I think his second and third series got messed around being split by the BBC for scheduling reasons and ended up disjointed as a result. Also, Steven Moffat who was lead writer and show runner was also tied up with Sherlock at the same time and it suffered as a result. They changed the scheduling later so that he had time to work on both projects.
Having said that, I rewatched the Matt Smith stuff recently and there are very few episodes that I didn’t like.
For me, Peter Capaldi was the best of the New Who. I started out with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker and he really captured their spikiness.
Agreed on Andor. It’s not just a good Star Wars show, it’s good TV. I really enjoyed it. In the running for the best show on TV last year imho.
Boba Fett was awful. I can’t believe the pitch of the show worked. Take a loved character, make him old and slow, and not able to look after himself, and let’s do that.
Mandalorian is quality entertainment for Star Wars fans, but I wouldn’t call it great television, and the best out of the rest of the star wars shows, but Andor is miles better than all of them.
As someone who did not grow up watching Dr Who, I think it’s difficult to express just how absolutely shite it looks I guess it’s something that gets better once you get engrossed in the world but from the outside looking in it’s kind of baffling why it is popular.
Anyway, I’m late to the party but just finished Vikings and have nearly finished Vikings: Valhalla. I really liked season 1 of Valhalla but season 2 seems to have lost its way - characters just do things and I’m not sure I understand the motivations anymore. They’ve also completely moved away from the raiding and internal politics of Vikings to just do two pretty boring stories about a journey to Constantinople and a woman giving up her warrior life to become a priestess/deity basically overnight. It still looks very good and the characters are mostly well performed though.
Ragnar Lothbrook and Loki, great characters. Went down hill towards the end. Not seen the Valhalla series.
Anybody been through Black Sails? Proper pirate adventure with blood, boobs, murder and Toby Stevens. Good stuff. Pirates of the Caribbean wound up to 11.
Part of the problem is that they are moving into the reign of King Cnut which was largely a stable period of history as far as England was concerned. They need to have some overseas intrigue to keep things interesting. I’m not sure how many series they have planned with him but it does go suitably pear-shaped after his death.
They sent Cnut off to Denmark to go and fight some rebels off screen - I think the better play would have been to send Leif off with Cnut to quash that rebellion and have Freydis go with Harald back to Norway and his subsequent journey to Rus and Constantinople. Really it’s the Freydis storyline that is the vibe killer.
Not giving up on the show but this feels like a bridge episode lasting for a whole season.
Have you guys watched the last kingdom? It’s like vikings, but better (maybe , i think so). I like both though, and i think a last kingdom movie is about to hit. Last season not the best, but they never are.
Yeah Uhtred of Bebbanburg would get my vote also.
Read most books by Bernard Cornwell and he puts a decent story with an authentic feel towards the probable history of the time.
Went to the Viking Village in York a few years back, where everything in it was set out as authentic as it could possibly be, even the smell. This was the thing that really struck home. The ‘stench’ of the place that had been replicated within the village… WTF…!
That is something that does not come across on the TV or pages in a book. Spent the rest of the day walking around the centre of York being pursued by a swarm of blue bottle flies that obviously were still upset at me trudging through their mounds of cow shit, pig shit, horse shit, dog shit, and every other kind of shit they call home at their day job in Viking Village…! :0)
Had to dump my jacket I was wearing because it stunk to high heaven
My and Junior are halfway through Capaldi. This is no light praise - I have every episode of Doctor Who old and new in a bookcase in my living room - he is my favourite. Will always have a soft spot for Tennant and Baker T. But Capaldi just smashed it from the minute he turned up. Funny, authorative, alien and a little bit scary. Shame he didn’t get the stories that Tennant and Smith got.
It’s a family entertainment show so people have always watched it together. Some of my fondest memories of the 70s are of folks coming back from work or playing out or a football match and watching it together at teatime.
Those people who watched it as kids now watch it with their kids. It’s a shared experience and that is much of the attraction: Saturday afternoon escapism - a bit like going to the match.
I don’t get the premise for Yellowjackets…they’re flying from east coast to Seattle and crash in the snowy wilderness….for 19 months?! In 1995?? Surely it couldn’t have taken the authorities THAT long to find them
In 1995 I was an undergrad at an East Coast college. While cellphones may not have been ubiquitous, there certainly were black box transponders and radios, not to mention air traffic controllers who should be able to triangulate their approximate location.
The bit that doesn’t make sense for me is, a team flying from New Jersey to Seattle, and they crash in Canadian wilderness. That makes no sense at all for them to have flown over Canada
I guess it’s something that gets better once you get engrossed in the world but from the outside looking in it’s kind of baffling why it is popular.
, i think so). I like both though, and i think a last kingdom movie is about to hit. Last season not the best, but they never are.
