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Marvel Netflix - Sweet Christmas!


Martell Spy

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Just watched episode one. It's ok - a bit slow which is getting tired with a lot of shows these days expecting you to watch several episodes.

It's Daredevil mixed with Arrow. There's nothing unique about the show in that sense. And again, Arrow at least established what the show was going to be about and that the character was going to be a deadly vigilante cleaning up his corrupt city.

Iron Fist establishes that he can do kung fu and that no one beleives who he is. His company appears to be run by nepotistic ne'er do wells he knew as a child.

But I sort of liked it. I found Finn Jones as Danny Rand fine. I put up with the guy who plays Oliver Queen for longer and Jones isn't wooden. It's just Oliver Queen is played with a kind of earnest conviction. The problem with Rand is that he's not supposed to be angry and I assume is supposed to have some inner peace. Which makes it harder to get behind the character.

The fight scenes were fine so far. It seems like people expect the actor to do all the stunts these days without realising that's a massive risk for a TV show - if your actor has an accident the whole thing can fall apart. Honestly I'd rather they have a stunt double doing amazing stuff as long as I'm swept away into buying it's the same character.

The title sequence is interesting but odd. You could be forgiven for thinking Fist's powers are different based on how they are presented here. You might also expect the Venom symbiote to show up at some point.

If it wasn't the case I could watch more tonight I'd be more down on the episode. As it is it's average and simply another show that has forgotten the art of a strong premier. Personally, I'd have introduced Madame (can't remember her surname - she was the drug baron in Daredevil) more fully than the ever so subtle hint in this episode and establish something Rand has to fight against. Or tell us what it is that brought him back. But if people like "Daredevil" and the premise of "Arrow" there's nothing in this episode that would drive you away from the show.

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42 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I noticed it was available to watch in the UK this morning (not download). I might try and catch it tomorrow, do a couple of episodes. My hopes are not that high, and I have to admit my enthusiasm for Superhero tv shows has dimmed quite dramatically over the past year.

It might be a way to try and slow down the inevitable torrents people will make. Guess not being able to download provides a minor inconvenience for torrenters - although I'm sure they can still get around it.

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

fuck sake. it's not available to download. what the fuck is this 2010?

It's assbackwards when they punish the person who pays a subscription in order to make it harder for torrenters. I thought Netflix had realised the best way is to make their shows as accessible as possible for their subscribers. It's shit given your plan was to watch the whole thing during your flight. I was hoping to get an early season review from someone here.

45 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I noticed it was available to watch in the UK this morning (not download). I might try and catch it tomorrow, do a couple of episodes. My hopes are not that high, and I have to admit my enthusiasm for Superhero tv shows has dimmed quite dramatically over the past year.

Tell me about it. I went from watching/trying them all to ditching the entire CW line and being quite picky about which ones i try now. Fortunately "Legion" is a breath of fresh air. They need to keep trying to distinguish themselves a bit more which is why the first episode of Iron Fist is mundane.

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6 minutes ago, red snow said:

It might be a way to try and slow down the inevitable torrents people will make. Guess not being able to download provides a minor inconvenience for torrenters - although I'm sure they can still get around it.

It's assbackwards when they punish the person who pays a subscription in order to make it harder for torrenters. I thought Netflix had realised the best way is to make their shows as accessible as possible for their subscribers. It's shit given your plan was to watch the whole thing during your flight. I was hoping to get an early season review from someone here.

Tell me about it. I went from watching/trying them all to ditching the entire CW line and being quite picky about which ones i try now. Fortunately "Legion" is a breath of fresh air. They need to keep trying to distinguish themselves a bit more which is why the first episode of Iron Fist is mundane.

I remember reading an article a while ago:

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Why-Netflix-Won-t-Let-You-Download-Offline-Viewing-84077.html

Basically Netflix is afraid of giving too much choice to people, and I guess there is some valid economic model for people to start watching less widely watched tv shows than just sticking to the big brands. By limiting the downloads on shows which are hugely popular (like Marvel ones) they get people to watch the lesser watched shows. 

I mean this works for me I will admit. I wanted to watch Luke Cage on my phone on my commute. I couldn't, so instead I've been watching Bojack Horseman and the Expanse. 2 Shows I never bothered with previously.

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9 hours ago, AndrewJ said:

In that case, my opinion of him just increased a little.

I'll watch. And I'm hopeful I'll enjoy it well enough. I figure, at worst it will be some fun, mindless comic book entertainment. And as long as it's not outright bad or boring, I'm ok with that.

I'm sure that was his hope but it's a risky gambit unless he thinks Trump hate trumps peoples' championing of wanting to see some diversity. Otherwise he just alienates two groups of people with what appear to be strong convictions. Although I'm not sure "not watching a TV show" is the best example of a strong conviction it is something people with strong opinions should find easy to do. eg not a great idea when promoting a show.

At the moment it seems they aren't even making the show "for the fans" but for a subgroup of the subgroup. Which is actually silly when you see the show as they are just making a netflix marvel show.

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5 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I remember reading an article a while ago:

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Why-Netflix-Won-t-Let-You-Download-Offline-Viewing-84077.html

Basically Netflix is afraid of giving too much choice to people, and I guess there is some valid economic model for people to start watching less widely watched tv shows than just sticking to the big brands. By limiting the downloads on shows which are hugely popular (like Marvel ones) they get people to watch the lesser watched shows. 

I mean this works for me I will admit. I wanted to watch Luke Cage on my phone on my commute. I couldn't, so instead I've been watching Bojack Horseman and the Expanse. 2 Shows I never bothered with previously.

those quotes are incredibly patronising. I prefer your idea of it encouraging people to try smaller shows as opposed to "my brain can't handle the choice!". Maybe they need to develop a better search system? I know I can get blindsided by all their different "genre" lists - even when I click on "mylist" they seem to jumble them up etc. Probably something I can fix by looking in the settings but "my brain can't handle it" :P

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7 minutes ago, red snow said:

those quotes are incredibly patronising. I prefer your idea of it encouraging people to try smaller shows as opposed to "my brain can't handle the choice!". Maybe they need to develop a better search system? I know I can get blindsided by all their different "genre" lists - even when I click on "mylist" they seem to jumble them up etc. Probably something I can fix by looking in the settings but "my brain can't handle it" :P

Haha. There is an element of truth to it however. I will watch a movie on tv if its on, even if its not something I especially wanted to watch, because my choice is very limited. A decade ago when there were only 4-5 channels on tv in the UK I would watch all manner of shit I wouldn't watch today. Now I've very focussed on my viewing. 

This means that 70% of the time I turn on Netflix, if I don't have a particular thing I went there to watch, I will end up turning it off without picking anything. There IS too much choice. So often I can start a movie and all I think about is ' what about if that other movie was better' and so I never get through it. 

 

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6 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Haha. There is an element of truth to it however. I will watch a movie on tv if its on, even if its not something I especially wanted to watch, because my choice is very limited. A decade ago when there were only 4-5 channels on tv in the UK I would watch all manner of shit I wouldn't watch today. Now I've very focussed on my viewing. 

This means that 70% of the time I turn on Netflix, if I don't have a particular thing I went there to watch, I will end up turning it off without picking anything. There IS too much choice. So often I can start a movie and all I think about is ' what about if that other movie was better' and so I never get through it. 

 

Maybe Netflix could create "channels" where there is something on all the time the viewer can drop in on? Maybe with a mixture of shows and films. Sometimes we do just want to switch on. It could be a useful marketing tool, If they were really clever they could almost generate a channel based on your viewing. But a traditional Netflix channel with shows on given days etc could work for both sides

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3 minutes ago, red snow said:

Maybe Netflix could create "channels" where there is something on all the time the viewer can drop in on? Maybe with a mixture of shows and films. Sometimes we do just want to switch on. It could be a useful marketing tool, If they were really clever they could almost generate a channel based on your viewing. But a traditional Netflix channel with shows on given days etc could work for both sides

Yep, maybe a good idea.

My view is there needs to be more 'risk free' shows. I mean shows that don't feel like a time commitment, that you could drop in and out of, rather than 3 series arcs of intense storytelling. Maybe shorter shows that you can just watch for 10-20 minutes, I've started to use Youtube as a way of watching things in short doses, and I don't feel there is any risk to turning something on because I can jump to something else incredibly quickly if I don't like it.

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55 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Yep, maybe a good idea.

My view is there needs to be more 'risk free' shows. I mean shows that don't feel like a time commitment, that you could drop in and out of, rather than 3 series arcs of intense storytelling. Maybe shorter shows that you can just watch for 10-20 minutes, I've started to use Youtube as a way of watching things in short doses, and I don't feel there is any risk to turning something on because I can jump to something else incredibly quickly if I don't like it.

I think we'll get that fairly soon anyhow. Longform storytelling initially had it's appeal because it was new. Now everyone does it because it sells. Things will swing back the other way again. It just takes a really good episodic show to come along. Comedy is a likely place but I guess a really good show using the "buffy" model of "done in one episodes with an arc" or going back to "monster/criminal of the week" could also happen.

I guess the problem at the moment is "risk free" shows were from an era where if you missed an episode you probably had to wait for a re-run to see it or more likely you just missed the episode. Programmers had to factor that in and make the show work with the fact people weren't watching every episode.Nowadays it's hard to "miss" an episode meaning it's almost better to try and make people watch every episode. So it would be more of a gamble to try at the moment.

I guess police procedurals and the like still drone on but it would be nice to see a show I'd like to watch where it is mainly episodic and the only reason i need to watch every episode is because every episode tends to be good.

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6 minutes ago, red snow said:

I think we'll get that fairly soon anyhow. Longform storytelling initially had it's appeal because it was new. Now everyone does it because it sells. Things will swing back the other way again. It just takes a really good episodic show to come along. Comedy is a likely place but I guess a really good show using the "buffy" model of "done in one episodes with an arc" or going back to "monster/criminal of the week" could also happen.

I guess the problem at the moment is "risk free" shows were from an era where if you missed an episode you probably had to wait for a re-run to see it or more likely you just missed the episode. Programmers had to factor that in and make the show work with the fact people weren't watching every episode.Nowadays it's hard to "miss" an episode meaning it's almost better to try and make people watch every episode. So it would be more of a gamble to try at the moment.

I guess police procedurals and the like still drone on but it would be nice to see a show I'd like to watch where it is mainly episodic and the only reason i need to watch every episode is because every episode tends to be good.

Yeah agree. The way tv worked in the past meant long form storytelling didn't really have much of an appeal. 

I think this short form style show exists, but for me it exists almost entirely in the animation genre. I can watch an Adventure Time, Bobs Burgers, Simpsons.. or something like Family Guy and its something to jump in and out of. 

There is also the 'corner of your eye' style show that you can have on in the background and it kind of works. This is more your 'Survivor' or crappy 'Millionaire Matchmaker' style show that nobody really watches with 100% focus. 

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31 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Yeah agree. The way tv worked in the past meant long form storytelling didn't really have much of an appeal. 

I think this short form style show exists, but for me it exists almost entirely in the animation genre. I can watch an Adventure Time, Bobs Burgers, Simpsons.. or something like Family Guy and its something to jump in and out of. 

There is also the 'corner of your eye' style show that you can have on in the background and it kind of works. This is more your 'Survivor' or crappy 'Millionaire Matchmaker' style show that nobody really watches with 100% focus. 

Animation does seem to make it work better (although even south park moved away from the format for 2 seasons) and definitely comedy. Rick and Morty while having continuity and character beats that reward regular viewing also works fine.

the reality TV/quiz show and , for me, the news are things that work well as background. I think what ended Arrow for me was when I realised it was becoming a background show and i try and stop watching stuff that eventually falls into that category. Although this could be an argument against them trying to make non-essential tv.

I do feel like tv missed a chance when the anthologies came back. I used to enjoy the outer limits etc but the issue is they took anthologies and made them into season long shows. Someone needs to try and do done in one anthology shows again - amazon is going to try it with a Philip K Dick anthology.

Maybe it's why I really like "Black Mirror". A show I only caught the odd episode on channel 4 and then watched all of season 3 on netflix at my leisure. I've yet to watch season 1 but will get around to it.

I notice I'm guilty of not talking about Iron Fist besides tangentially complaining that the format might be an issue. I did post about the first episode though - just waiting for others to catch up and overtake!

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4 episodes down so far. The previews were way too harsh, although it's certainly not the best show ever. It's nowhere close to as being good as Daredevil Season 1 or Jessica Jones. But it compares reasonably well to Luke Cage or Daredevil Season 2.

The Hand being the bad guys is a bit worrying though. If the back half of the season is full of Infinite Ninjas like 

DD S2 this could go south real fast.

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8 minutes ago, Werthead said:

4 episodes down so far. The previews were way too harsh, although it's certainly not the best show ever. It's nowhere close to as being good as Daredevil Season 1 or Jessica Jones. But it compares reasonably well to Luke Cage or Daredevil Season 2.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The Hand being the bad guys is a bit worrying though. If the back half of the season is full of Infinite Ninjas like 

DD S2 this could go south real fast.

 

That's encouraging. I dunno how many viewers it represents, but on my Netflix feed the show has a full 5 stars, so someone's liking it.

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36 minutes ago, red snow said:

Animation does seem to make it work better (although even south park moved away from the format for 2 seasons) and definitely comedy. Rick and Morty while having continuity and character beats that reward regular viewing also works fine.

the reality TV/quiz show and , for me, the news are things that work well as background. I think what ended Arrow for me was when I realised it was becoming a background show and i try and stop watching stuff that eventually falls into that category. Although this could be an argument against them trying to make non-essential tv.

I do feel like tv missed a chance when the anthologies came back. I used to enjoy the outer limits etc but the issue is they took anthologies and made them into season long shows. Someone needs to try and do done in one anthology shows again - amazon is going to try it with a Philip K Dick anthology.

Maybe it's why I really like "Black Mirror". A show I only caught the odd episode on channel 4 and then watched all of season 3 on netflix at my leisure. I've yet to watch season 1 but will get around to it.

I notice I'm guilty of not talking about Iron Fist besides tangentially complaining that the format might be an issue. I did post about the first episode though - just waiting for others to catch up and overtake!

Yeah like you I've tried to watch the CW shows but I really wanted them as background shows, that I could look up from something else and check out for a bit. But they are all too intense, so they demand your attention, even if they are not especially complex or interesting. When I realised I couldn't do that I gave up on them. 

Black Mirror is a good example of a low risk show, anthologies work really well in that way. You know roughly what you are going to get but if you don't like something you can discontinue. As you get older and your free time becomes smaller, you need shows which are less commitment. 

Superhero shows should actually work brilliantly in that format (maybe things like the flash and Supergirl do, I don't know, I don't watch them) because you can have a villain of the week who gets his ass kicked, then move onto another one next week. 

 

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