indieinsights

I know all Dune novels, films, series. I even know all the video games. Therefore, I am fairly relaxed regarding bad Dune content and shows. But I gave up on Dune Prophecy. I genuily felt as if I don't need it... that it's useless and that the Dune franchise will soon forget it. The writing, the pace are an issue. Episode 1... the beginning alone reminds me of the worst writing and directing moments of the Dune franchise. Although I understand the reasoning behind the series' concept, as it is difficult wiroking with one of the books without conflicting Villeneuv's next film, the Dune universe is so large... There is so much story potential in other places. Let's be frank here: If you give some average Hollywood TV writers the chance to date back the Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek or any franchise by 10,000 years, it'll result in a garbage show. They are not creative and good enough for such world building at this scale.

If we ignore the fake reviews and political commentary on both sides, the writing and the show are the main focus. All I'm saying is: I don't understand who this show is for. Who is the audience? The humor is too cringe and the cast is too old to appeal to young viewers. If the majority of sci-fi fans are male, then most of them won't be able to relate to this show anyway. So, is it for teens? No. Is it for elderly people, then? I don't know. What I do know, though, is that the producers and showrunners did not do their market research on this one. I feel bad for Aubrey Plaza because she is famously funny, contrary to the rest of the cast.

I hate to say it, but it is not good. Payne and McKay cause too much pain. What troubles me the most is the writing, the lackluster acting of (many) actors, the Sauron blob glue monster plot idea, and the overall story arc. I'm getting it. If you work for Amazon, the bureaucracy of one of the largest corps in the world **** the best creative ideas out of the Zoom meeting room. But, come on. We can overlook bad acting, bad lighting, and oversaturation -- for as long as the story is terrific and well-written. But here we are. It ****. Even the journalists agree on this one, though more politely than the average viewer.

I tried hard to like it, like even rewatching episodes. But E3 killed it for me. The issue is... I think that it is not made for the Star Wars audience. It feels like an academic what-if exercise by a student who is not interested in the material he or she talks of but would just like to add a different spin to it, to shine--only to disappoint the actual audience. Think of some horror film experiments that were bombed because the horror audience was not interested in such an experiment. It is often unclear and confusing to such experimental creators why their experiments do not work, since on paper it made sense. In reality, not every genre mix or experiment works as intended, which is as old as entertainment itself, I guess. For a large company, this is certainly a management experience problem. Sadly.

A tough one. On the one hand, season 5 is better than season 4, and perhaps season 3. Fargo shines once again, with a cool mix of crime and dark comedy. Watching Reacher at the same time, shows how much better Fargo is. However, on the other hand, it feels like weak writing when all the men in this show are either goofballs and manchildren, or the ultimate villain. It makes the story so predictable. I do not want to spoil too much, but the writers got lost too much in feminist storytelling, I believe, which makes it likely hard for most of us to watch it through, right? Like the moments when the female characters over and over contemplate their suffering because of men. I get the plot point, but please. These are high school-level social theories. The main character, the core plot idea: great. I doubt the writers even understand why the "puppet" plot was the weakest moment of the show: it is there where most of us were likely rolling our eyes because it felt like written by a college student. Really, there was no better way to tell her story? But again, better than season 4 because season 4 suffered from an over-stylized, cartoony writing.

How to put it without spoilers? It lacks its own unique ideas, puzzles, and plot points. It is yet another whatever Star Wars show with a super weapon, old missing legacy characters, badly written dialogues. A lot of starring this time, though, like... a lot, as if someone was copying Mandalorian (without the helmet). And the secret map hidden behind elementary school riddles and puzzles, and of course: an item that will save us all! Did the writers actually watch the original Star Wars? Why are these new Star Wars shows and films always about some silly item, like a D&D session or a Dan Brown novel? Imagine Luke Skywalker searching the universe for a magical cube because... without it, he will never be a Jedi. Horrible writing. 4/10 for the effects.

Not only did I grow up with Star Trek in the 90s, which made me an engineer eventually, I saw all Star Treks series, films, and shows multiple times over the years. I like Strange New Worlds. The new season reminds me of Next Generation, where some episodes were not only about legal cases but moral standards, laws, and the questions of good and bad. It's fine. I understand that if you got used to JJ Abrams, you might not see the scope of it and how the Star Trek IP holder tried to create such a show for 20 years, with multiple attempts... Think Discovery or Picard, which have more in common with JJ Abrams than New Generation or Voyager. But in my opinion, it was about time to take inspiration from Next Generation and Voyager, even if some subtle moral or legal episodes may upset viewers seeking for action and hard sci-fi. It is exactly what the 90s Star Trek often was best at, compared to, say, Star Wars, or newer sci-fi franchises such as The Expense.

It took me a while, but I made it through the first episodes. Unfortunately, I know the novels and the video game. I seem to be not the target audience, to put it politely. It is as if the writers never read the novels or played the game... or it doesn't matter nowadays anymore. Unsure about this trend. But it may work well for those unfamiliar with the game and novels. Who knows. I'll pass Volume 2, and season 4.

So far, so good. My wife, a non-gamer, was less interested though. To her it is just another zombie something. We switched back to The Americans which she finds to be better written, not only due to the family and marriage plots, for comparison. So, for a gamer, The Last Us as a series... is alright. No surprises. Solid acting, solid script. I need to see how the series develops but I admit that I lost interest in the zombie genre a few Walking Dead seasons ago. The Last Us series could be great but it might be 10 years too late. We had a little too much zombie stuff in all forms and tastes in the past 10 years.

How did Charlie Grandy mess this up so hard? It is cheesy. It is generic, quite flat, and also, full of hatred towards others. Grandy wrote for SNL (128 episodes), even for The Daily Show under Jon Stewart. Granted, he did not do anything worth mentioning for 10 years. But, please, he must have done something right in his life. So, how come he messed up Velma so hard? Velma is probably an example of an aging writer who is pessimistic about the world, but instead of creating his own IP and legacy, he borrows a child's series? And then he turns it upside down, mocking the characters, and harming other characters. But what for? Really, during his SNL time, he did not learn anything about uniqueness and audience? How did the mess of Velma pass the exec producers, managers, animators, and voice actors? No internal criticism? Could the production company be internally somewhat dysfunctional?

As a Star Trek fan for 20 years, I have to say that I do not like Discovery. I tried to like it, hard, but it didn't work for me. I believe it has to do with the lack of actual scientific discovery, Star Trek lore, and the lack of episodic writing known from the past series. I see what they do and why they are doing it, but this is not what Star Trek stands for, in my opinion. Instead of focussing on the strengths of the Star Trek narrative and universe, they seem to be too influenced by modern generic Star Wars films and series, and cheap and commercially unsuccessful fantasy series of recent years. The latter is worth mentioning, I guess, because it is astonishing how many generic fantasy series bombed commercially recently, and it looks (without googling it) that Discovery's team is either part of those teams, or at least influenced by it. But I will rewatch it in a few years.

I've seen all Star Trek series multiple times over the years. I am not the hardest fan, but it is safe to say that I know one or two things about the Star Trek universe. And I like that they return to the original formula. An optimistic, non-capitalistic, and United Planets take on our future. As we can see, those unfamiliar with Star Trek have trouble understanding that concept -- because it is so different from everything sci-fi and fantasy out there. For those, the cheap and generic Star Trek films of the past years are probably the better content. But I hope that Strange New Worlds is the beginning of a revival of the original episodic adventure formula of the 1960s and 1980s, but also the 1990s and early 2000s before JJ Abrams appeared, who seemed to have never understood what the creator of Star Trek was talking about -- for decades.

I will give it a 4/10 because of the effort and because it made me laugh. I am currently reading the novels again. Not everything in the novels, not all novels, is very good, but it is clear and evident how deep and complex the Witcher universe is. So, how does Blood Origin fit into it? So far, it doesn't. Blood Origin could be anything, even a Willow prequel, sequel, whatever generic show or film came out in the past few years. The writers clearly do not know how to write unique fantasy storyline. And they tried their BS on an established fantasy lore and universe? How did that happen unchecked internally? And who is the primary showrunner? A nobody with little experience (de Barra). I doubt that the actual The Witcher series will recover from this, after the recent public backlash and writing mess. So, maybe 3 The Witcher seasons is all there ever will be and Blood Origin put the final nail in the coffin of Netflix's The Witcher. It happens. Shame though. 4/10 still for the effort, the cinematics, even though it could be any universe (with pointy ears people), and that it made me laugh (for all the bad reasons).

Alright, I'll sacrifice myself by giving it a ... 5/10, no, 4/10. The actors, the dialogues, the costumes... It all feels half-hearted, underfunded, like some British series that tries to compete with American blockbusters without a proper team and budget. Maybe the next episodes will be better, but, please. This is not okay. And guess who is the director of the first episodes? A British nobody (no offense) who did nothing worth mentioning in years. And, literally, the writer who messed up the film Solo. A shame, really. A wasted opportunity. The original Willow had a certain depth and magic to the actors, storytelling, and direction, without being a major production. But let's be honest here: Ron Howard is an Oscar-winning legend as a director. He knew his stuff. The new Willow series lacks all that, and maybe, it is because of the lack of talent in direction and writing. Just maybe.

From a writer's perspective, She-Hulk has more in common with a supervillain than a superhero. All she cares about is her career and dating life. While other heroes and heroines save the world, her world is not only smaller but more narcissistic and egoistic -- like the worst side of Batman or Iron Man. And I believe that this is a writer's problem, maybe a lack of experience. Surprisingly, that same She-Hulk then is trying to teach the actual Hulk, who went through some spectacular things in his fictional life, about how things are going in the universe, even though all she has are some mediocre and below-average everyday experiences. As mentioned earlier, if She-Hulk was some narcissistic supervillain obsessed with sex and career -- great. But this... nah, this is just bad writing. 3/10 because why not.

It reminds me of Star Wars Rebels to some degree, which had many casual daily life storylines. And, if the writer of Star Wars Rogue is also the creator of Andor, you know what to expect, right? I like that. There have been so many crazy Jedi this, Sith that, and yet-another-Death Star stories, that it is hard for them to be unique in the end. I feel that Andor is the best Star Wars series since Mandalorian, with similar ideas on casual daily life outside of the Skywalker family soap opera. Andor is slow, yes. But we'll see.

As the New York Times writers admitted, this TV show suffers from quite some bad writing. The NYT said on multiple occasions that, obviously, hardcore fans might object to some lore "interpretations". That is true. But there is a professional problem with the Rings of Power TV series story and writing. The bad pace, the dull story idea (no spoilers), and of course, how Galadriel, who is supposed to be a few thousand years old, behaves like a teenager which makes her unbelievable, in regard of her age. The graphics are great. But if you compare the writing, even the jokes, to a film like, say, Fargo, you'll notice why film critics complain rather about the writing alone. So, overall, it is okay. I don't mind watching it. It's just not a good series.

Mixed feelings. I do not like the intro music, which sounds like taken from some, uh, car or beer ad. But being into LoL, of course, I had to give it a try. Well, it's overly melodramatic, strangely written, IMHO, maybe because of inexperienced writers with TV? The art style too is... a bit meh, as if some illustrator is unfamiliar with TV and film. So, overall, I think that we have to see how this show turns out storywise but so far, I am not impressed, sadly. Even the Witcher series did better, and folks complained. But I'm sure that it'll find its hardcore fanbase, so, well.

like most of us, i'm into dota, so when steam spammed me with dragon's blood, i gave it try. i've tried to like it, like really hard, but i gave up eventually. if i compare it to another somewhat fantasy netflix series like dragon prince, though that is for a younger audience, it is not only better animated, it has better writing, simply better plot twists and ideas, tbh. so, is dragon's blood bad? nah, but more like a meh. i assume that if you try to create a lol tv series, you'll suffer the same difficulties. so kudos to the creators of dragon's blood. but it's just... not as good as, say, dragon prince, or the witcher series, in terms of storytelling and overall quality, i mean.