Last web series/tv show seen — Page 96

I’ve been catching up on Better Call Saul and I think it’s great! Breaking Bad is somewhat overrated imo and BCS definitely exceeds it for me. It’s just a lot more fun to watch and I find all the characters much more fascinating.

Currently watching Code Lyoko (rewatch) in the morning and Batman: The Animated Series (first time) at night. They work well in those time slots.

Given how old you folks here tend to be, you probably aren’t familiar with Code Lyoko, but do yourself a favor and give it a shot. It’s about a group of schoolkids defending the Earth from an evil computer virus by entering a virtual world while trying to bring their virtual friend into the real world. The first season episodes are all self-contained (save for the finale) but later seasons have story progression. Oh and the real world is 2D animation while the digital world is 3D.

Batman is great too, but the Internet has already waxed endlessly about it’s greatness, so I don’t feel the need to add to it. I’d be hard-pressed not to mention it’s brilliant stylized art deco design, though.

I’m watching it in what I understand to be production order. Eventual I got suspicious when Harley Quinn showed without introduction, so I looked into viewing order and couldn’t find any alternative, besides airing order, which seemed just as absurd. They had two-parters with other episodes in between, ffs. So I stuck with production order. I think I’ll compile a recommended viewing order afterwards. Really, though, it doesn’t matter since the stories are all self-contained.

Agreed. Watching in production order, Joker’s early episodes were an embarrassment. In fact, the show didn’t really win me over until five episodes in with The Underdweller.

Someone made a “chronological” order that’s partly based on the Nolan films’ concept of “escalation” - early episodes focus more on street gangs and realistic villains and it gets more “out there” as it goes along - but I’ve never sat down and done a watch of the series in that order before so I don’t know how well it plays.

Yep, that’s the one, though it doesn’t appear to be the same blog post (or maybe they changed their software and his formatting got borked).

Thanks for finding that though, I was too lazy!

Stargate SG-1 (Season 2)

Better than Season 1. I’ll go so far as to say it’s almost good, but not quite. Perhaps if I was watching through this series for the first time, I’d be less critical. But I used to be a diehard SG-1 fan; I’ve watched every episode from Seasons 1-6 and multiple episodes from Seasons 7-9. I know that lot of the stuff I loved about Season 2 are either never touched upon again or are taken in directions I don’t care for in subsequent seasons.

EPISODE RATINGS

• “The Serpent’s Lair” – 7/10
• “In the Line of Duty” – 7/10
• “Prisoners” – 5/10
• “The Gamekeeper” – 6/10
• “Need” – 6/10
• “Thor’s Chariot” – 6/10
• “Message in a Bottle” – 6/10
• “Family” – 5/10
• “Secrets” – 6/10
• “Bane” – 7/10
• “The Tok’ra: Part 1” – 6.5/10
• “The Tok’ra: Part 2” – 6.5/10
• “Spirits” – 6/10
• “Touchstone” – 7/10
• “The Fifth Race” – 7/10
• “A Matter of Time” – 8/10
• “Holiday” – 8/10
• “Serpent’s Song” – 6/10
• “One False Step” – 8/10
• “Show and Tell” – 7/10
• “1969” – 6/10
• “Out of Mind” – 6/10

SEASON RATING

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

2 Kawaii 4 Comfort is an amazing webseries, and I hope we get that finale soon. I just discovered it a few days ago and binged it all. They just to make the last episode but it’s been three years. They’re still active though, seemingly trying to gain traction after their crowdfunding goal for last episode wasn’t being reached.

Anyway, despite the title, it’s a dead serious look at the insecurities of five anime convention goers. They each get an episode to themselves (except one) and it all ties together very well. I can’t recommend it enough.

Begun rewatching Batman: The Animated Series. I’m not a fan of the production nor airdate orders, so I’ve decided to watch it in this order:

https://www.comicbookmovie.com/batman/batman_animated/batman-the-animated-series-a-definitive-viewing-order-a172364#gs.caryg0

I need to get back to that. Went on hiatus just two episodes shy of finishing the whopping 65 episode first season.

The Last Kingdom on Netflix! It’s super addicting. It has some problems but is one of those rare cases for me where the issues are eclipsed entirely by how fun it is. It moves very fast and relies on an almost perfect/universally loved protagonist, but it’s hard not to be invested in spite of all that. I’d say the condensed plot and character development are almost an asset because some of it wouldn’t land as well if we were allowed to stew on it for more than an episode.

Charming, if not shallow characters - but all very interesting in their own right - placed into wildly entertaining plotlines. I like it.

American Gothic

Close to a month ago, I came across the American Gothic DVD set in a used book store. I had neither seen nor heard of the series before, but I like Gary Cole and I have a fondness for '90s TV horror, so I took a chance and bought it, hoping I’d enjoy it.

Well, I wasn’t altogether impressed, unfortunately. Typical of network television then and now, there were just too many episodes and too little focus or momentum. Aside from Jake Weber and the nonentity he played, most of the cast/characters were great, but there just wasn’t enough mystery or atmosphere to keep me engaged. After five episodes, I’d lost interest, and only felt compelled to finish watching as I’d paid for the set. Well, that set’s gonna be finding a new home very soon.

EPISODE RATINGS

• “Pilot” – 8/10
• “A Tree Grows in Trinity” – 7/10
• “Eye of the Beholder” – 7/10
• “Damned If You Don’t” – 8/10
• “Dead to the World” – 7/10
• “Potato Boy” – 7/10
• “Meet the Beetles” – 7/10
• “Strong Arm of the Law” – 6/10
• “To Hell and Back” – 7/10
• “The Beast Within” – 7/10
• “Rebirth” – 8/10
• “Ring of Fire” – 8/10
• “Ressurector” – 6/10
• “Inhumanitas” – 7/10
• “The Plague Sower” – 6/10
• “Dr. Death Takes a Holiday” – 7/10
• “Learning to Crawl” – 6/10
• “Echo of Your Last Goodbye” – 8/10
• “Triangle” – 7/10
• “Strangler” – 5/10
• “The Buck Stops Here” – 6/10
• “Requiem” – 7/10

SERIES RATING

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Earth 2

I started watching Earth 2 in September of 2018. Yeah, took me three years to watch a show which lasted a single 21-episode season. The plots were middling and often boring, drawing my interest elsewhere, but the cast and premise were strong, which kept drawing me back in. I imagine had a second season followed, barring any Andromeda-style retooling, the series would’ve found its footing. Guess we’ll never know.

EPISODE RATINGS

• “First Contact” – 8/10
• “The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two)” – 8/10
• “Life Lessons” – 8/10
• “Promises, Promises” – 8/10
• A Memory Play" – 7/10
• Natural Born Grendlers" – 7/10
• “Water” – 7/10
• “The Church of Morgan” – 7/10
• “The Enemy Within” – 8/10
• “Redemption” – 8/10
• “Moon Cross” – 8/10
• “Better Living Through Morganite: Part 1” – 7/10
• “Better Living Through Morganite: Part 2” – 8/10
• “Grendlers in the Myst” – 7/10
• “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” – 7/10
• “Brave New Pacifica” – 6/10
• “The Boy Who Would be Terrian King” – 8/10
• “After the Thaw” – 7/10
• “Survival of the Fittest” – 7/10
• “Flower Child” – 5/10
• “All About Eve” – 7/10

SERIES RATING

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Batman: The Animated Series

Started rewatching B:TAS in late July/early August after buying the BD set, finished yesterday. I watched only the original incarnation and the two spinoff films; I didn’t bother with The New Batman Adventures, since I didn’t watch it as a kid and don’t consider it the same series (I will watch TNBA later — I own the episodes, so I may as well — but I doubt I’ll like it very much).

I have a few, minor issues with the show. I wish the antagonism between the authorities and Batman touched on in “On Leather Wings” had been played up more. I wish more had been done with Summer Gleeson and Montoya. I wish elements from the series bible — namely the Penguin and Montoya’s backstories — had made it into the series. I wish Hugo Strange hadn’t been utterly wasted. There’s also the inconsistent quality of the animation, but that goes without saying. Regardless, B:TAS remains the best Batman series, featuring the definitive Batman.

EPISODE RATINGS

• “On Leather Wings” — 9/10
• “Christmas with the Joker” — 5/10
• “Nothing to Fear” — 7/10
• “The Last Laugh” — 7/10
• “Pretty Poison” — 7/10
• “The Underdwellers” — 5/10
• “P.O.V.” — 7/10
• “The Forgotten” — 8/10
• “Be a Clown” — 8/10
• “Two-Face: Part I” — 8/10
• “Two-Face: Part II” — 9/10
• “It’s Never Too Late” — 9/10
• “I’ve Got Batman in My Basement” — 6/10
• “Heart of Ice” — 9/10
• “The Cat and the Claw: Part I” — 8/10
• “The Cat and the Claw: Part II” — 8/10
• “See No Evil” — 8/10
• “Beware the Gray Ghost” — 10/10
• “Prophecy of Doom” — 5/10
• “Feat of Clay: Part I” — 8/10
• “Feat of Clay: Part II” — 9/10
• “Joker’s Favor” — 7/10
• “Vendetta” — 7/10
• “Fear of Victory” — 6/10
• “The Clock King” — 6/10
• “Appointment in Crime Alley” — 8/10
• “Mad as a Hatter” — 8/10
• “Dreams in Darkness” — 8/10
• “Eternal Youth” — 8/10
• “Perchance to Dream” — 8/10
• “The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy” — 6/10
• “Robin’s Reckoning, Part I” — 8/10
• “Robin’s Reckoning: Part II” — 8/10
• “The Laughing Fish” — 7/10
• “Night of the Ninja” — 8/10
• “Cat Scratch Fever” — 6/10
• “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne” — 6/10
• “Heart of Steel: Part I” — 9/10
• “Heart of Steel: Part II” — 9/10
• “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” — 8/10
• “Joker’s Wild” — 7/10
• “Tyger Tyger” — 9/10
• “Moon of the Wolf” — 7/10
• “Day of the Samurai” — 9/10
• “Terror in the Sky” — 8/10
• “Almost Got 'Im” — 8/10
• “Birds of a Feather” — 6/10
• “What Is Reality?” — 9/10
• “I Am the Night” — 9/10
• “Off Balance” — 8/10
• “The Man Who Killed Batman” — 7/10
• “Mudslide” — 7/10
• “Paging the Crime Doctor” — 8/10
• “Zatanna” — 7/10
• “The Mechanic” — 7/10
• “Harley and Ivy” — 8/10
• “Shadow of the Bat: Part I” — 7/10
• “Shadow of the Bat: Part II” — 7/10
• “Blind as a Bat” — 7/10
• “The Demon’s Quest: Part I” — 8/10
• “The Demon’s Quest: Part II” — 9/10
• “His Silicon Soul” — 9/10
• “Fire from Olympus” — 7/10
• “Read My Lips” — 8/10
• “The Worry Men” — 7/10
• “Sideshow” — 9/10
• “A Bullet for Bullock” — 8/10
• “Trial” — 7/10
• “Avatar” — 8/10
• “House & Garden” — 8/10
• “The Terrible Trio” — 7/10
• “Harlequinade” — 7/10
• “Time Out of Joint” — 7/10
• “Catwalk” — 8/10
• “Bane” — 7/10
• “Baby-Doll” — 8/10
• “The Lion and the Unicorn” — 8/10
• “Showdown” — 7/10
• “Riddler’s Reform” — 8/10
• “Second Chance” — 8/10
• “Harley’s Holiday” — 8/10
• “Lock-Up” — 8/10
• “Make 'Em Laugh” — 7/10
• “Deep Freeze” — 7/10
• “Batgirl Returns” — 8/10

SERIES RATING

★★★★★★★★★☆

The New Batman Adventures

I never really watched this show when it originally aired. I caught the three-part “World’s Finest” crossover on Superman: The Animated Series, but that’s as far as my exposure to TNBA went. Fast-forward to recent decades. My interest in checking out TNBA never rose. The character redesigns by-and-large were atrocious, a far cry from the beautiful designs of B:TAS. I did watch “Legends of the Dark Knight”, but was underwhelmed by how hollow and cheap it felt. I also knew the character development Freeze and Harley underwent in the predecessor series was rolled back, furthering my disinterest in the cartoon. So I consigned TNBA to the “not interested” pile and figured it would remain there. But then I purchased the B:TAS BD set this past July, and then a couple weeks ago finally realized the TNBA episodes were included. As I owned then, I figured I may as well watch them, apathy be damned. So I did.

Not all the redesigns were horrible; I liked Freeze’s redesign, though he should never have been brought back, and the Penguin’s was an improvement over the Burtonesque original. There were also a handful of good episodes; “Growing Pains” with Clayface was the best of the lot. That’s where anything positive I have to say about TNBA ends. This show is hot garbage. I’ve already mentioned my contempt for the handling of Freeze/Harley. Fuck that annoying, underaged shrimp Tim Drake; he’s virtually everything I’ve ever disliked about the Robin character, minus the green speedo/pixie boots. I’d cringe everytime Catwoman or Poison Ivy appeared on screen; in B:TAS, they and the other female characters had individualized physiques/body language, but here, all look like bulimic teenagers. And then there’s Batman. B:TAS Batman was human; he was serious, but still capable of humour and compassion. TNBA Batman is a remote, inconsiderate thug.

The New Batman Adventures (and in hindsight, Batman Beyond, too) effectively ruined the Batman corner of the DCAU. No redemptions, no happy endings. Just regression, alienation, and failure. Fuck. This. SHIT.

EPISODE RATINGS

• “Holiday Knights” — 5/10
• “Sins of the Father” — 5/10
• “Cold Comfort” — 2/10
• “Never Fear” — 7/10
• “You Scratch My Back” — 5/10
• “Double Talk” — 5/10
• “Joker’s Millions” — 4/10
• “Growing Pains” — 8/10
• “Mean Seasons” — 6/10
• “The Demon Within” — 5/10
• “Over the Edge” — 6/10
• “Torch Song” — 6/10
• “Love Is a Croc” — 7/10
• “The Ultimate Thrill” — 5/10
• “Cult of the Cat” — 7/10
• “Critters” — 5/10
• “Animal Act” — 7/10
• “Old Wounds” — 6/10
• “Legends of the Dark Knight” — 5/10
• “Girls’ Night Out” — 4/10
• “Chemistry” — 5/10
• “Judgment Day” — 6/10
• “Beware the Creeper” — 5/10
• “Mad Love” — 7/10

SERIES RATING

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Boo

ChainsawAsh said:

Boo

Given how hard you dissed my boy Tim Drake, I was definitely saying “boo”

ChainsawAsh said:

Given how hard you dissed my boy Tim Drake, I was definitely saying “boo”

I’ve been recently rewatching AVGN, and the show has a lot of funny episodes.

So what did you think of Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, if you hated the show.