#anyways the franchise will now forever be associated with me and my friends watching the first one

[comradejoanmir]

Saw someone post about a jewel thief au which respect and all that but the first thing Eye thought of was dhoom 2... Like uday chopra could do motogp but marc marquez could Never do ali

[crazyfanoffandom]

The Hidden World - Post-Trailer Reaction!

I wanted to write a short blog post about my reaction from the HTTYD 3: Hidden World Trailer. I know technically it’s not called HTTYD 3, just HTTYD: Hidden World, but since this is still the third and last installment in the movie trilogy, I did anyway.

Pre-trailer, I was hesitant about the concept of a white version of a night fury. It made little sense to me. It felt like something that the fandom had been obsessed with since the franchise started so i felt a little cheated. Even though The Cursed Child, part of the Harry Potter franchise, was a play it was a disaster, and the whole idea/execution was like a terribly written fan fiction. Because of my experience with this, and other franchises, i was worried that HTTYD was turning into another fan fiction. These thoughts are not terrible or uncommon. We studied a theory in class about how people associate things together based on experiences, so since this sounded like it was going down the same route as Shrek, The Cursed Child, etc. it made sense why i felt like this. But i’m not closed-minded. I was irritated at first, but over time, I reminded (and others) that this franchise had ben dear to my heart and they hadn’t let us down yet. So, despite my irritation and teasing of the “White Night Fury” I buckled in.

Then Dean DeBlois and his fabulous self revealed information to us about the Light Fury that, evidently, changed my mind. First, it’s not a White Night Fury. It’s a Light fury, nicknamed by Astrid and Hiccup. The Light Fury and Toothless come from another species, and have different abilities. According to the trailer, she can disappear or something but we have no information about this in greater detail. For now, to avoid making the same mistake with the initial impression of the Light Fury, I’m going to reserve judgement until I see another trailer and the movie.

Let’s also add in the trailer here. The poster didn’t do the dragon justice. It wasn’t until I saw screenshots and the trailer itself yesterday that I realized that this dragon wasn’t a fan made dragon. While one can assume that it is based on the coloring of the body and eyes, we have yet to receive information on why she looks like this. With Dean, nothing exists randomly.

Which brings me to the point that i want to emphasize the most. This is what really changed my mind about the Light Fury. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to watch movies that feel shallow, or have no symbolism. Stories represent stuff from our lives and symbolize the journeys that we have to take. The Light Fury, according to Dean, symbolizes the destiny of Toothless. Toothless has a different destiny than Hiccup, and in my opinion, this reminds me that Toothless is another character in the story. This is something I sometimes forget.

So by the end of the trailer, I wanted to cuddle the light fury. I laughed when she pawed Toothless in the face.

However, let’s move on to reactions from the trailer itself.

I’m expecting a few things from this movie. I daresay I’ll be sad if i don’t see everything on this list. However, the movie can’t please everyone so i’ll suck it up.

(1) I expect it to be sad - Now I know this sounds REALLY weird because who loves sad things? But, sometimes I find that the end of a story is most justified with a sad ending. Sad endings make you think of the things that you went through, and the good times. This creates an emotional connection with the audience that cannot be addressed in any other kind of ending. This is similar in character deaths. When characters die, and we mourn their loss, we remember what they were, how they grew and why they mattered. We also look at the death’s symbolism and ask ourselves it’s purpose. When Stoick died, we saw Hiccup go from a boy to a man. The entire series has been about Hiccup, and his journey from a awkward fifteen year old to Chieftain of Berk. Being awkward is fine, of course, but Hiccup was obviously not fine with it. He’s learnt how to be okay with who he is. He’s transitioned from a boy to a man. Now he must learn how to let go. Because he has to learn how to let go, I feel like a sad ending would make the biggest statement and connect with us on an emotional level (then we can go watch everything all over again x)). Especially since some of us have spent so much time with the cast in the shows, movies, etc. and played SoD with our own vikings and dragons.

(2) I expect another main cast death - I know. This is sad. I always want the sad things because...I don’t know. Death in literature and media can mean a lot when executed properly. In this case I feel like the death should come from one of the main cast. As in, main character from RoB, DoB, RTTE, etc. So one of the gang. And in my opinion, it should be Snotlout. Before I continue, I love Snotlout. I feel like he’s under-rated. But he has gone through a lot of character development since we got to know him in HTTYD. Selfish, braggart and conceited define the core of his character. Or it did. Since the first glimpse, he has changed to the point where, he’s still selfish and conceited sometimes, but not as he was before. I understand that this may not happen because all the development took place in the shows. However, I think it would be a good justified ending for his character.

(3) I expect new and show dragon cameos - Obviously the show dragon cameo is legit because we saw fireworms in the trailer, and my friends have pointed out some new species that we didn’t recognize from other parts of the franchise (that villain dragon though...heck i want one). So this is short and sweet.

(4) I expect Hiccup will learn how to let go - Now, we assume that this refers to letting go of the dragons, but it could refer to letting of his current life, and making a drastic decision that affects the people of Berk and the dragons. Perhaps, keeping them somewhere and forever protecting them. Perhaps Berk will disappear along with the dragons. Perhaps, they will let the dragons go. Maybe they’ll find a way to close the entrance to the hidden world. Either way, I expect to see what I’m being promised.

(5) I expect more humorous moments - Toothless’ birds of paradise dance in the trailer. And the Light Fury slapping him on the muzzle was hilarious. I’m suspecting we haven’t see the last of humor moments.

(6) The final one (for now); I expect some Hiccstrid moments...and a decision on who won over Ruffnut  - For those of us who have gone beyond the movies and watched the shows, we’ve seen Hiccstrid develop. Now that the final installment of the trilogy is on it’s way, I hope we get to see a good ending to the Hiccstrid subplot we’ve stayed with for almost a decade. In addition, I want to see who won Ruffnut over, and if the loser found a special someone for them!

Honestly, if I thought and thought I could give you an endless list of things i want to see in this movie. But i have little time to cover anything else. This isn’t a whiny list, and I will not be angry if anything on here doesn’t make it into the movie. We have Rescue Riders coming (hopefully it includes the main cast).

Most of the information about the Light Fury was taken from the trailer and Dean DeBlois on Reddit. He answered some inquiries yesterday. Please feel free to offer your thoughts on anything I’ve mentioned, or tell me what you hope the movie will contain! Thanks for reading :)

[agentkentuckypresents-blog]

(agentkentucky)

Coloring Outside the Lines Episode 1: Making Machinima and the New Media Maze

~LISTEN ALONG~

WARNING: Volume Down. This one compressed pretty loudly this time around. 

Transcript (with pictures! Most effective when paired with hitting play):

Hi everyone, my name is Erin Christopher aka Agent Kentucky, and you are listening to, “Agent Kentucky Presents: Coloring Outside the Lines: RWBY, Red vs. Blue, and the Rise of the New Media Community”. This four-week blogcast is being completed as a course requirement for my new media class at Florida State University and will use the creation and dissemination of the Rooster Teeth brand as a case study in the formation of new media communities and the impact of digital storytelling. Now, I feel like there was some jargon there, so I’m going to back it up a minute and talk about what new media is, why I’ve chosen to study this company, who I am as a host in relation to the topic, and then we’ll get into the focus of this week’s blogcast, which is making machinima and the new media maze. So, if you can’t tell, I’m a pretty big fan of wordplay and alliteration, sometimes it comes unconsciously so keep an ear out.

Anyway, if you’re not familiar with what Red versus Blue is, I’ll be explaining more in a little bit, but it’s best known as the longest-running episodic web series ever. Still, if you’ve never seen it, you might be wondering why I’ve chosen “Agent Kentucky Presents” as the title of a blogcast with a focus on Red vs Blue. So first of all I’m from Kentucky, and while yes I can do the stereotypical Kentucky accent, I will not be using it in this blogcast because I figure I grew up in Kentucky, this is my voice, this is a brand of a Kentucky accent. Don’t want to do anything disingenuous, here. But moving on, in Red vs Blue, the Rooster Teeth series that launched the whole company, there are 49 Agents called “The Freelancers”, who are named after US states, so you have Agent Texas, Agent Washington, Agent Carolina, but as it stands Agent Kentucky is still out there adventuring and has not yet shown up. So I figure, for my little blogcast, I’ll be the Agent Kentucky’s stand-in until the real Agent Kentucky makes their debut on Red vs. Blue—and, maybe they’ll have the stereotypical Kentucky accent.

Caption: Say hello to the Freelancers! None of these cool kids are Red or Blue, but stand-in Agent Kentucky is goin’ rogue on the Blue Team (Go Cats?)

Moving on, I think I should explain what I mean by a new media case study before we jump too deep into this. So, within this field of new media studies—which is still really getting its footing in the larger academic world—we’re going to be looking primarily at these new ways stories and information are distributed via the Internet. Kind of delving in deeper into this rise of the web series that we really see coming to a bit of an apex today with the popularity and convenience of streaming, also YouTubers and the social media influencers. New media also encompasses things like the web comic, the visual novel, the listicle, the podcast, the fiction podcast—which has actually been my primary area of research for the past six months I’ve been doing my senior thesis, but the thing is we’d be here forever if I named off everything that counts as new media because it’s always growing and always changing, which makes it challenging to keep up with trends and shifts, but provides for a lot of diversity of material.

So, all research starts out with a core question, even though I’m going to be talking about a lot of different things regarding new media here in this blogcast, but my question I really want to focus on is about community and these web series. So RvB, RWBY, really anything that Rooster Teeth is putting out, you have gen:LOCK coming in January, which is this huge exciting new scifi series helmed by RWBY’s director Gray Haddock and Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan, probably a more familiar name if you’re not familiar with RT’s stuff, but the point is part of this company’s success has grown out of a backbone of community. 

Caption: Michael B. Jordan is back to snap some retainers (and pilot some bad*ss mechs) as the voice of Julian Chase, protagonist of the upcoming Rooster Teeth Animation series gen:LOCK

And I’m not just talking about audience—for the record, I will be referring to community and audience as totally different things. So you can watch something and never think about it again, hardly talk to anybody about it, it goes out of your mind—but you were still part of the audience. You consumed that commodity. Community, on the other hand, implies further engagement, it implies connection with other audience members, sometimes this brings about the production of transformative works, so we’re talking fanart, that sort of thing. All of this long explication here brings me to my central research question which is, “How is the niche web series a catalyst of community unbounded by geography?” So that rhymes a little but it’s still kind of jargon-y, so I am essentially asking here, what is it about web series like RvB that brings people together so passionately? And obviously, you have a lot of discussions like this going on right now about modern fandom, kind of concerning things on mainstream platforms, by mainstream studios, but I think there’s a personal element here when we’re talking about indie content, especially indie web content, that facilitates the development of a different kind of consumer community—there really are tons of these out there now, but I want to focus on the RT community specifically given their time frame, how they really were ahead of their time on these things. So, kind of presenting a thesis for my question here, I think niche has a lot to do with this development of community by the web series—you’re getting people engaging in conversations who have more specific intersections of interests, I also think creator-community connection has a lot to do with it which is really bridged through social media nowadays, and that’s kind of what we’re going to be exploring here through these four episodes.

Caption: The spectrum of Red vs. Blue Heroes

Which, nature of research, one question leads to another, why focus on these series specifically? For the most part, we’re going to be talking about Red vs Blue but later we’ll touch on RWBY, which if you’re not following along in the blog is spelled R-W-B-Y, it stands for the main characters’ names and the colors they’re associated with, and I’m not just doing this because it lets me make a cheeky little title about coloring outside the lines, but these series really have made a profound impact on the landscape of digital storytelling and what we think about when we produce visual entertainment for the Internet. And going off that, the ways in which these stories have brought so many people together. I think one of the reasons I really latched onto what this company does, especially after watching their fifteenth anniversary documentary Why We’re Here, which is also the title of the first episode of Red vs Blue, is because my own mission as a storyteller, as a screenwriter, a novelist is to write things that bring people together. Things people can talk about, make friends through. I’ve made of my some of my dearest long-distance friends over the years over just nerding out about stuff, so what I’m really curious about is what makes these niche series so powerful as a connective tissue among geographically disparate people.

Caption: Community comes together at the 2017 Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX) in Austin, Texas

So quick history lesson, in 2003, two years before the advent of YouTube, which has essentially become our society’s video hosting and consumption crutch, we see the birth of Red vs Blue, and subsequently the group that will become the founders of currently Austin, TX based Rooster Teeth Productions. Now with 16 seasons and 5 spinoff miniseries under its belt, Red vs Blue was created originally using playable characters in the shooter video game HALO, which was then overdubbed with comedic voice acting and released on Rooster Teeth founder Burnie Burns’ website, drunkgamers.com, where he and his friends, as the title suggests, would do the equivalent of Drunk History, but for video game reviews. The first official episode was released on April 1st, 2003, and the series actually found itself as part of a larger new media content movement called machinima, which was essentially the art of making movies out of video gameplay. Red vs Blue however has become probably the best-known example of this new media genre, having ballooned into the internet smash hit that it is today.

Not to say that there weren’t bumps in the road, however. After RvB started drumming up serious views, the crew got into some pretty hot water with Microsoft because, obviously, HALO was protected under their copyright. However, due to RvB’s massive success and the hordes of new players it actually brought the HALO franchise, the team at Rooster Teeth was allowed to use HALO footage to make Red vs Blue completely free of royalties.

Anyway, so the first episode of RvB, after it premiered in April 2003—see, I rhymed again—essentially became a viral video before the term viral video even entered our vernacular. Okay, say that ten times fast. But really, by the third episode, things were really taking off and the team had started to realize they had struck on something pretty special here. Which brings me to discuss, “how does Red vs Blue even fit into this greater new media genre of machinima?” For the record, I’d never even heard of this genre, or knew that there was a special genre for the type of production Red vs Blue is, and the creators didn’t know it either at the time, so I don’t feel as bad about it as I could.

Caption: “What are YOU lookin’ at?”*

*Not the actual dialogue

Interestingly enough, there’s actually an Academy of Machinima of Arts and Sciences, that’s had its own film festival, awards show, and an expo convention that started in 2008. The first Machinima Film Festival and Awards were held in 2002, in which Anachronox: The Movie, a short film created using the 3D role-playing game Anachronox, took home best picture. A year later, the prize went to Red vs Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The first ever machinima films, however, were created around 1996 using the video game Quake. And similarly to Rooster Teeth, you had teams of producers—two of the big ones were called The Rangers and the Undead Clan, who created these early machinima films and distributed them via the Internet.

Now, even though it’s made using an action shooter game, Red vs Blue really isn’t all that much about the fighting—although there definitely is some, it’s certainly not like what you’re going to find in say, RWBY, where you’ve got these super crazy fight scenes and characters whipping out convertible weapons and all that. Rather, Red vs Blue is more about what happens in these humorous conversations among soldiers, and I think that’s one of the big appeals of it. So many times, content is focused on the action, kind of one of the fundamentals of structuring a plot is asking “is this important to the story? Is this important to the characters?” but Red vs Blue endeavors to make the non-fighting, the cracking jokes and dry humor, the focus, that’s the important stuff. There’s actually academic literature out there on RvB as a piece containing anti-war sentiment, I have it linked in the sources if you wanna check it out.

However, I also think RvB has a big appeal due to the interactive nature of the content, starting with its creation and continuing on into its distribution and consumption. So in an academic article on the art of machinima, Dr. Henry Lowood, who is a curator of science and technology history in the libraries at Stanford University, discusses this idea of the player—that is the player of a given video game—as a performer. Which, you know, machinima—the players become the animators, the modelers, the voice actors, but Lowood argues that this is inherent to video games, that the video game experience actually has laid the psychological groundwork for machinima to arise as a form of new media storytelling. So, when you’re playing a video game, especially an RPG, you are, for the most part, in control, you have to literally be inside your character’s head, making decisions for them. That’s why, when games are talked about or reviewed, you’ll see the word “immersive” thrown around a lot, and that’s because so many times when you’re playing video games you are placed into the psychological position of your playable character. According to Lowood, that makes you an actor. 

Caption: A table read of Red vs. Blue Season 10. 

So, of course, machinima producers like the Rooster Teeth founders go the extra mile here, doing voice acting over staged video gameplay, but the point, according to Lowood, is that impetus to create is already there just through the act of playing a video game. So, if we’re looking at RvB’s production as something that amplifies player-game interaction into this new dimension, is it so much of a stretch to claim that that interactive nature is actually directly reflected in the creation of the Rooster Teeth community? Of course, the founders talk about in the documentary how the community forums were created so the fans could really just entertain each other while there were lulls in releasing content, but you also saw the founders having day-to-day engagements with their fans, sort of befriending them, they ended up actually hiring a bunch of their early fans like Gavin Free, Barbara Dunkelman, and Miles Luna who are now trademark company personalities, so you wonder if interactive was just kind of always in the blueprint, and of course carries on into the company mission today.

Finally, I really think that they’ve capitalized—as so many online content creators have—on the simple fact that people process information via narrative. Really, when you break it down, new media studies as a whole is kind of the study of how stories are connecting people. Via the internet, digitally. I mean really that’s intrinsic to the core of humanities, this idea of stories connecting people. All this to say, of course, that this concept of interactive creation, of including the consumer in the narrative, is kind of what it takes to lay the seeds of such a well-connected consumer community.

So, next episode I am going to dive deeper into this creation of community and I would really love to do a Q and A, maybe an interview, so if you’re part of the Rooster Teeth community and don’t mind me reading off your answers to a couple of questions, or if you want to ask me questions regarding this and my research on it, my ask box is open you just can’t send me anonymous messages—so don’t be shy, I only do that for my own safety and security, and you can always request that I not give away your URL when I do the Q and A. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, and we’ll be back with another episode next Friday.

~Peace out, and check out the bibliography under the cut.

AKY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lowood, Henry. “Real-Time Performance: Machinima and Game Studies”. Journal of Media Practice, vol. 2, no. 1, 2006, pp.10-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20060101161233/http://www.idmaa.org/journal/pdf/iDMAa_Journal_Vol_2_No_1_screen.pdf . Accessed 14 September, 2018.

Ott, J. “Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences”. Making the Movie, 7 Aug. 2005, http://makingthemovie.info/2005/08/academy-of-machinima-arts-sciences.html . Accessed 14 September, 2018. 

Starrs, D. Bruno. "Reverbing: The 'Red vs. Blue' machinima as anti-war film", 'Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies', NY, London: Routledge, 24.2, 2010, pp. 265–277.

Thompson, Clive. “The Xbox Auteurs.” The New York Times Magazine, 7 Aug. 2005, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/magazine/the-xbox-auteurs.html. Accessed 14 September, 2018.

Why We’re Here. Directed by Mat Hames, Rooster Teeth, 2018.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Power Rangers (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review within a week after the movie was released in the U.K. So if you haven’t yet seen the movie either check out my non-spoiler review or go and watch the movie then come back and read on.

Characters:

Rangers:

So before talking about the rangers individually I wanted to talk about them as a team. I do think the fact we only get to see them suited up for the last 20 minutes of the movie...there’s a five minute scene that ends the movie with them de-morphed but it is literally 20 minutes in that final battle that they are suited up, is both good and bad. Good because it allowed for the movie to explore the rangers as people rather than as rangers which made for a more sophisticated movie, bad because for the die-hard Power Rangers fans that are all in for the suited up battles...as I said you may be disappointed considering even when they are morphed they spend most of the time with their visors retracted.

This can be for numerous reasons, in the series most of the morphed scenes were taken from the Sentai counterpart series which was always dubbed over by the American actors. Also, as has been discussed and discovered a lot in movies recently, if an actor has to where something that conceals a part of their face then it takes away the emotional connection with the audience. Some may argue that we don’t need an emotional connection to Power Rangers and the fact it was 10 years before a team of rangers had retractable visors and that was only for one season may suggest Saban weren’t that bothered either. But I guess in making the movie they thought against and this is why we have all five rangers with their visors withdrawn while fighting in their zords, which in itself is stupid if you think about it considering the helmets are there for protection but I digress.

Also in regards to the powers the teens gained from the coins, again the series has displayed civilian powers before either through mysticism or through other means. The best three examples of this are Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder and S.P.D. which incidentally all followed each other. Ninja Storm had the rangers given powers through ninja training focussed on their elements, Dino Thunder had the Dino Gems each ranger had grant them individual powers, S.P.D. meanwhile had the rangers civilian abilities palmed off by the fact they’re in the “not too distant future” where it just so happens people have abilities...incidentally we never meet anyone other than the main five rangers that display powers but again I digress.

Here the rangers all seem to display the same powers that mainly centre on superhuman strength; by centring I mean they also display superhuman leaping and the abilities to scale a cliff face rather fast. Also the power coins seemed to make the school canteen counter heat up and melt the trays but it’s never clear if the rangers themselves have this ability. I’m of the party that both likes and dislikes giving the rangers powers de-morphed. Particularly with the likes of Dino Thunder these powers are never used while morphed, which makes you think the only reason why they morph is for protection but Ethan (the blue ranger) had impenetrable skin so why does he need protection?

Now in regards to the zords...in my non-spoiler review I said the movie is compared to the new TMNT movies, as a step further I will say that Power Rangers is basically like all toy-based movie franchises including Transformers. While I think this movie is better than Tranformers, I have to say the zords and especially the Megazord look like Tranformers. In the original series they did look like toys but they were individualised and more colourful, here they just looked like vehicles and not even looking like the dinosaurs they are meant to be like. Alpha does say that they take the form of the most dominant species but they don’t look too much like them. Also one side-note I’ll make is when the zords were first sent out and the possibly iconic “Go Go Power Rangers” theme is playing, firstly it’s not from the series it’s the remixed version from the 1995 Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers movie but still Ron Wasserman’s original creation just sung by a collaboration known as “The Power Rangers Orchestra”, but I would have liked to have heard more of it. Not only was it turned down and most likely just there to be there but also it’s there for literally I think 10-20 seconds while the zords re-create that one scene of the zords running across the screen. I saw this movie for a second time the day after it was released and one of his critiques to me was that he would have liked the theme to run through the final battle as it traditionally did in the series.

Speaking of that final battle; firstly the Megazord doesn’t look right, it does look like Optimus Prime, but secondly I am still unsure how I feel about each of the five rangers controlling a different part of the Megazord and actually being stationed in that part. With I think every single Megazord to date when the Megazord forms...which wasn’t executed well here because it was literally formed in fire but because of the intensity of the flames we couldn’t properly see it...but every Megazord has had a main control room where all the rangers control the Megazord from. Here, while it does seem more practical in terms of clearly the Megazord would be realistically controlled this way, it was one of those moments where if they played a sad trombone sound over it with them initially about to move after triumphantly forming and just falling over because Billy and Zack are the only ones who can control the legs. It does beg the question what Jason controls being at the centre with the girls controlling the arms but I never try to overthink with this franchise.

Jason:

Here’s my issue with Jason...I never liked him in the original series. Austin St. John was a decent red ranger and the fact they brought him back as the gold ranger in Zeo as well as the original red ranger in Forever Red is understandable but at the same time he had no personality for me. Both he and Dacre Montgomery fill the stereotypical meathead jock role quite well but Jason here is more than that. I do like how they each have labels that aren’t sterotypical with high school. Jason is the “criminal” but I’m still not entirely sure why he is labelled that. Yes he performed an illicit act with a cow but considering the school mascot seems to be a cow it seemed redundant to do so, even more so to warrant detention every Saturday for the rest of the year. I mean I’m guessing he was relying on a scholarship from his football to sail him through to college and now he has both a criminal record and tag that’s all gone so he actually has to work to pass but again I am not clear on what his goal was with the cow.

Jason’s role in the movie is very much the smart mouth pretty boy with a heart, largely shown when he arrives in detention and defends Billy against that Weasley child wannabe. I think the fact they showcased slapping as a means of fighting was very good here because, obviously fighting and any type of violence is bad but, slapping is a very effective move that is largely looked over because it’s associated with either women or fairy men...but here Jason is the one to use it twice, one with the bully and again in the Megazord against Rita.

I did really like his friendship with Billy, all friendships seemed more or less organic throughout this movie but the fact that the bad boy criminal type was friends with the stereotypical oddball of the school I felt was quite nice, particularly when Billy told him about his autism and Jason was perfectly fine with it. That arc ran throughout the movie with Jason always looking out for Billy without patronising him, that not only helps with the depiction of Autism but also making Jason more likeable.

Also Jason’s dad Sean portrayed by David Denman, was a great addition particularly as family members of rangers weren’t really even shown unless they were fellow rangers, villains or the mentors. The only exception is in Time Force with Wes’ dad who learned he was a ranger half-way through the series. Everyone else with family members who weren’t  villains or mentors (like Astronoma in In Space, Captain Mitchell in Lightspeed Rescue, Sensei, Lothor, Kapri and Marah in Ninja Storm, Clare in Mystic Force and Andrew Hartford in Operation Overdrive) were only in single-episode or single-story appearances.

Anyway back to Sean, I liked how he had his own character outside of a family member, he was a fisherman whose boat is the one that picked up Rita, he was later endangered when his car was knocked over by the battle between the rangers and Goldar...incidentally, the two street names he uses when calling Jason saying he’s downtown “On Mariner Bay and Reefside” are two sly Easter-Eggs that long-term fans of the series will now as the hometowns of the rangers from Lightspeed Rescue and Dino Thunder. Now we know there are 5 sequels to this movie, provided the movie does well enough to warrant five sequels, but we don’t know if they’re sticking to this team of rangers or expanding to others...if so they’d have to maybe create different town names.

But again back to the story, it’s almost obvious that Sean guessed Jason was the red ranger when he saved him, even though he was masked...most likely because no Power Ranger in history has tried to mask their voice mainly because they don’t usually talk to civilians and the few times they do that civilian usually ends up discovering their identity. But not only does it look like he figures it out but also he puts that news article on his fridge over the police warrant as if to say he’s proud of him.

My final note is on this romance between Jason and Kimberly hinted at both in the trailers and movie in different ways. For reasons I’ll get into with Kim I doubt that scene where they kiss in the trailer could happen considering how the scene starts in the movie with her confessing what she did it does stand to reason that he wouldn’t hear that then think “Okay I’m going to kiss this girl now”.

Overall I think Dacre Montgomery was a very good Jason and a very good leading man. I do think he is Zac Efron-lite in terms of looks but considering I find Austin St. John to be as dull as dishwater this is definitely an improvement.

Billy:

RJ Cyler is definitely the breakout star in this movie; not only is Billy so much more relatable and developed than his original counterpart, but when you factor in how this movie tackled Autism then that makes a fully-rounded great character. I thought I’d be compared to Billy based on the fact he is the geek of the team but to bring in the autism as well which on the spectrum I also have then he is clearly my comparison. I did like how not only did they showcase the autism in terms of actions but also in speech with how fast he talks and almost how robotic he talks. I turned to my friend when I saw this movie the first time after the scene with him deactivating Jason’s tag and said “I relate to him so much” because while he is more tech-savvy than I am it’s just the way he acts that echoes me quite well.

I thought Billy’s humour was on-point, it stuck to the autistic tendencies of the character while also bringing in the outsider tendencies associated with any misfit in a high school wanting to fit in. I loved that line when they start glowing and Zack says he’s black (as in glowing black) and Billy not fully understanding the concept says “No you’re not”...whether or not he can’t see him glowing or if he can’t understand the concept is irrelevant as it was funny.

One thing I didn’t see coming was the fact Rita killed Billy two thirds into this movie, 1) It was shocking but 2) Made redundant by the fact that even though we saw Billy morphed for 20 seconds half-way through the movie we have seen promotional images not only of him with his zord but morphed and his visor retracted...so I knew he would somehow be revived but it was very shocking because not only was Billy the one with the biggest emotional pull with the audience at that point but also he was is the nicest one on the team so it was sad but again slightly redundant.

I also liked how they showed Billy wasn’t a good fighter, that training scene in the pit where both Alpha and Jason tried to help train him felt very organic...when he morphed and started fighting his moves did seem rather basic so it felt more natural than in the original series when they showed no fighting prowess before becoming rangers then seemed to be martial arts experts when morphed.

Going forward I do hope they explore the fact that in the original series Billy helped create a lot of the gadgets and maintain the zords. They’ve showcased Billy as more adept with explosives rather than gadgets here but again maybe going forward we’ll see.

Billy was definitely my favourite character in this movie and most of that is thanks to RJ Cyler, much like Jason I didn’t like the original Billy from the series. Largely because the stereotypical depiction of a geek didn’t sit well with me but also because David Yost effectively slandered the series in an interview a few years ago despite being the longest-serving character from the original five to serve tenure on the show so you think he’d be a little bit more grateful. But anyway yeah I love this character and I hope RJ Cyler gets more work out of this.

Trini:

Trini would have been my least favourite character if not for Zack, but again she is definitely an improvement on the original because as much as the original actress’ death upset me, in the series she basically didn’t do anything. I can’t actually remember a stand-out moment for her like I can for basically any other character. Whereas here they at least tried to develop the character with the fact they made her an LGBT character...unlike LeFou in the live-action Beauty and the Beast however she doesn’t have an actual “gay moment” in the movie...in fact there is no romantic moment in this movie for anyone whatsoever. It is implied she is a lesbian but never actually confirmed.

I loved the sassiness she brought, not only did we not discover her name in the movie until about 30/40 minutes, I mean we as viewers knew it but in-movie she didn’t say it and more than one character called her “Dee Dee” throughout the movie, but how she revealed it and corrected Kimberly saying she was a recent transfer was very much a “snap” moment. Also speaking of her name, obviously in the original she’s called Trini Kwan because she is Asian...here she’s Latina and as such wouldn’t have the surname Kwan so is only ever known by her first name. I get why they didn’t want to change the surname and opted not to use it at all but it does seem weird with her being the only one to not have her surname revealed.

I have to admit in the trailer I did think Rita confronted Kimberly rather than Trini but the fact everyone is making fanfiction about this scene where the two basically get very up close and personal I guess is the LGBT moment of the movie. I knew Trini wouldn’t betray the rangers for Rita, if she did it would have come out of nowhere because they hadn’t shown Trini as the traitorous type.

There’s nothing more I can really say about her morphed because she and Zack really didn’t develop further past that point but she did come around to the teamwork angle and even I think tolerated Zack by the end of the movie.

Despite not actually being a working actress, I think Becky G did a good job. The fact she is more of a singer than an actress was taken into consideration by the writers and director because again she really didn’t have much to do acting-wise yet what she did do she did well.

Zack:

Zack is definitely my least favourite out of the five...I can’t decide whether or not that carries from the series because basically I disliked all the original five rangers in the series. My problem with Zack was that he was dull, Ludi Lin is not the most engaging actor and the character they’ve sculpted here is not the most interesting. I think his best scene is around the campfire when he talks about his mum, the scenes with him and his mum are quite touching aside from that line at the end when she’s talking about the rangers and he (acting like he doesn’t know) asks if they were hot...it frustrates me when there’s nothing but style, i NEED SUBSTANCE.

His humour was the best thing about him and even that fell flat a lot. At the start when he jumped onto the car and joined the others before being crushed by the train and Jason asks if he’s insane he just responds “Yes I am”...he does seem to be the daredevil of the team but at the same time that comes across as cockiness with thinking he knows everything. I did however like his pining for Trini both spying on her at the start then discovering she is a lesbian. He definitely seemed to try and bring Trini into the fold and considering Jason, Kim and Billy all knew each other and they didn’t it fit quite well.

I found it weird how Zack basically did nothing when morphed to contribute outside of what they all did. Jason developed with his dad, Billy had some humour, Kimberly had something to do at least whereas both Zack and Trini didn’t really do much outside what was expected of them.

Overall I think Ludi Lin didn’t diminish or raise my expectations of the character and if they do stick with continuity of switching out the Red, Black and Yellow rangers then I wouldn’t be sad to see him go...particularly as Adam is one of my favourite rangers.

Kimberly:

Kimberly was an interesting character and spoke to the more sophisticated tone of this movie compared to the original series. Largely because of her character arc in the movie; the fact that she apparently sent that nude picture of her now former friend to either her ex-boyfriend or the boyfriend of her friend most likely unprovoked speaks ill of the character. In the original she was a standard valley girl but here she seemed to have a nasty bite. Yet we are supposed to feel sorry for her because her now former friends are ostracising her? Yes she showed remorse for what she did but she is the one in the wrong, we don’t know if it was unprovoked or if this guy she sent the photo to was her boyfriend who cheated on her with her friend but the fact she starts off this movie hating herself but then ends it loving herself because she has friends didn’t carry the same warm feeling it probably should have with me.

This leads on to the trailer romance with Jason; it is true that in the trailer the two do kiss and yes in the series Kim doesn’t have a relationship with Jason but instead Tommy...who is teased at the end of this movie...but I guess they were trying to say that there should be a romance between the two, but again because of what Kim confessed to Jason about what she did it would then be weird and in poor taste for Jason to then get romantically involved with her.

Kimberly morphed; first I think the pterodactyl zord is both the most realistic look as well as the most colourful but also the fact when combined with the others the wings act as swords was quite good. Also I found it bad that when it caught fire how she didn’t just fly off and spin to try and extinguish the flames but I guess that wasn’t going to happen.

Overall I think Naomi Scott is a great Kimberly and do feel that she and Dacre Montgomery have good chemistry, I just think that because they haven’t actually portrayed a romance that it isn’t too late for them to introduce Tommy and have her start something with him.

Allies:

Zordon:

Bryan Cranston as Zordon was actually brilliant casting, I’m not going to say genius casting but in terms of who they could have cast they made the right decision with him. I loved the opening scene which echoed that dark gritty fan-film that was sued by Saban but also spurred on this movie and that scene where apparently all the original rangers were aliens but still on Earth in the Cenozoic Era...which by the way is dated as 65,000 years ago whereas in the original series Rita was imprisoned for 10,000 years.

Also I do like how selfish they made him here; in the original he was both stubborn and useless with advice in some areas but here he wants the new rangers to morph so that he can harness that energy and resurrect himself, although he did put the team first and give up that opportunity to save Billy when he died so I guess he’s not as cold-hearted as we think. Him being in a wall was an interesting choice considering in the original he’s a floating head in a tube but for the modernisation they’ve harnessed here it worked.

The fact they made Rita and him friends originally was never really explored because while Rita did talk about him in an almost admirable way at times, I would have liked to have seen them meet up in modern day.

Overall as I said, Bryan Cranston was great casting here, they do have five movies coming out after this and I do hope one of them explores his origin more and his history as the red ranger because that in itself was new but such a smart twist that it made me want to know more.

Alpha 5:

Okay so I had to see this movie twice before I came round to tolerating Bill Hader as Alpha 5. I do honestly think the original was a lot better because he was an iconic staple of the series, whereas here I know they’re trying to make it more sophisticated so having Bill Hader bounce off Bryan Cranston works to that effect. I'm still not sold on the look of the character, I do not see what was wrong with keeping the original design or at least an updated version of that but this is practically a re-imagining of it.

However one of my favourite lines, possibly my favourite line, in the movie is when we first meet Alpha and he meets the rangers saying “different coloured coins, different kids, different coloured kids!” Genuinely that got a laugh both times I saw it and it just sums up the diversity of the rangers in this movie perfectly.

Also he was witty, he was great with the one-liners and it is my favourite performance Bill Hader has done...I think the more I see him the more I’m comfortable with him but as I said the original is so iconic that it will take time. But I did like him I thought he was good.

Villains:

Rita Repulsa:

This is possibly my favourite re-imagining of a character this movie has done because while the rangers were definitely re-worked they still had the same foundations as the original characters. Rita meanwhile was elevated so much more than what we had from the character in the series. Let us not forget this was a character who was the first main villain and a character that appeared in four seasons as a villain (If you count the Turbo movie as part of the series) and then was redeemed as a hero many years later in Mystic Force...so how do you rework that? You have her actually take charge; this was the first time I’ve ever seen Rita actually go about doing stuff herself, usually she relies on her minions and monsters but here not only is she gathering gold to build Goldar by herself but also she’s taking on the rangers single-handed. Also they added an extra horror aspect to the character in her resurrection which was both slightly chilling but brilliant.

Now with the design of the original Rita, I can see why they didn’t have her engage with the rangers like other boss villains did but here because of the re-worked design it made for a great battle sequence, I also loved how they showcased Rita being so much stronger than the rangers both in civillian mode and morphed because, as revealed, she was the green ranger at the time Zordon was the red ranger. But whether or not it was a stunt woman or Elizabeth Banks herself she sold the fight sequence.

The fact she took centre stage in challenging the rangers as opposed to hiding on her Moon Palace was also refreshing; she obviously as history with the rangers as a team, she knows Zordon they were apparently friends, she possibly had a zord of her own which I would have loved to see because the Dragonzord is so awesome but alas what we got was still great. But because she has all this history with the power rangers it’s obviously she’s a formidable foe because she’ll know how they were trained, their tactics, possibly how to defeat the zords. She wasn’t expecting them to form the Megazord and even tried pleading for her life before being bitch-slapped into outer space towards the moon.

Also her humour; Rita in the series had her moments but she was more whiny than funny whereas here because Elizabeth Banks is so good with comedy she sold the small comedic moments. If you were to tell me Krispy Kreme would be a big plot-point in this movie I may have actually believed you because it is so very Power Rangers but the way they did it is very clever. Rita’s reactions to it because I’m guessing she’s an alien it’s never actually clarified was funny and even her trying a donut while all this destruction is going on outside was hilarious.

Also in this section I wanted to talk about her two sources of henchmen; firstly we had Goldar who I am undecided as to whether or not he had better role in this movie to the series because in the series he was Rita’s recurring right-hand monster and lieutenant but also the sometimes very cheesy comic relief. Here he was something being built up to for the end of the movie, didn’t speak and was completely god. I do thank the writers for making the first monster they fight be Goldar because it stays true to the original series and how Rita built him by gathering up all that gold was very cool.

I do think they missed a trick when Rita absorbed herself into Goldar because all you saw change in him were flashes of green; now I’m not saying do with the 1995 movie did and horribly CG the monster to look like the villain but I didn’t see the point in her doing that.

Also the Putties, and here they are just called Putties not Putty Patrollers. Firstly I think as a more serious toned design it works and they do match the aesthetic of how this movie has designed Rita. The one thing I didn’t understand is why the rangers needed zords to beat them...or even to morph because in the series while yes originally they had to morph but then got stronger over time so no longer needed to, I didn’t see any mention of “You will have to morph to defeat them, but don’t worry you’ll get stronger on your own over time” here. These are supposed to be the footsoldiers and require the use of the zords to defeat them did seem a tad confusing I have to admit.

My final thoughts are on the massive change in making Rita Repulsa the Green Ranger...or at least the Green Ranger of Zordon’s time because we were teased Tommy at the end of this movie. I love this twist it definitely takes the “Green with Evil” story arc from the series and twists it in a different way, although now I hope they don’t do that story for Tommy because it’s technically already been done. I love her look and the fact the armour was inside each ranger just needing to be summoned; firstly with Rita’s look here she resembles Divatox who was the main villain in Turbo more than the original Rita but it works for me, secondly the fact she could actually control her morphing even though when she tried it didn’t work properly because she’s effectively broken after all these years was very cool especially the way her eyes glowed and those metallic protrusions on her face.

I don’t agree with the idea of making Tommy a woman for the sequel; their defence of “It will make the team equal in gender” is stupid because yes while men always outnumbered women on these teams that’s just how the show worked, also Tommy Oliver is the most famous Power Ranger and so to make him a female just to add more women does seem like trying to pander to a demographic that isn’t even asking for it.

Overall I think Elizabeth Banks was a fantastic choice for Rita, she was unrecognisable and is fast proving her credentials as a character actor first with Effy and now with Rita.

Connections to Power Rangers Mythos:

Alright so aside from the Easter-Eggs I’ve already mentioned, I wanted to talk about a few big throwbacks to the series. Firstly those two cameos right at the end from Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank who portrayed Kimberly and Tommy originally; they are literally credited as Cameraman and Camerawoman I believe but the fact they are there watching the action together for a start as their relationship in the series was a big talking point but also wearing their original colours; Tommy went through five suits and four colours in his tenure but originally he was green and Amy was wearing pink as she played Kim. Hopefully going forward we’ll see more cameos from the series; I would personally love to see Johnny Yong Bosch who played Adam the second Black Ranger and I feel it could be a great Easter-Egg hunt to spot them.

Next everyone is talking about Trini’s shirt as shown when they finally morph. On it is simply the number 1973, to the unbeknownst this probably means nothing but to a Power Ranger geek like me this is a sentimental tribute to the Yellow Ranger’s original actress Thuy Tring who was born in 1973 and tragically died in 2001. It’s a great tribute because fans of the show will hopefully acknowledge and respect it.

Also something I only noticed the second time I saw this movie was Jason’s T-Shirt when he first comes to detention at the start of the movie. I’m assuming this is an actual t-shirt design but I think it was chosen for the movie because at the bottom of this design it had the words “From “R” Bulk” which possibly means nothing but in regards to “Bulk” all I kept thinking of was Bulk and Skull who were the bullies turned allies with an arc spanning four seasons. Which made me think why Bulk and Skull aren’t actually in this movie; I mean there was a bully but he looked more like Ed Sheeran than Bulk or Skull. Possibly a missed opportunity or maybe referenced through Jason’s T-Shirt.

Finally the Zeo Crystal, big important mcguffin in this movie and had the same role as in the series. It grants the rangers their powers and is something Rita wants to get her hand on...but something not mentioned in the movie is she wants the crystal for Lord Zedd. Whether or not that’s actually true I don’t know because he is never mentioned in this movie but would have been a fantastic end-credits tease. Maybe he’ll be introduced in the next movie?

Overall I rate this movie an 8.5/10, it’s a Power Rangers movies and that definitely shows in places with some of the familiar pitfalls the series suffered from but both as a superhero movie and as a reboot it was brilliant. March has been such a great month for movies this year and this made it end on a high note for me.

So that’s my review of Power Rangers, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[saftasming]

I need your help.

https://www.gofundme.com/2h7x39-help-me-gain-my-independence

Hi Guys, I don’t normally do this kind of thing but I need help., My name is Abi (Or as many know my online handle as "Saft" or "Safty"), I'm a 33 year old bisexual/asexual with aspergers asking kindly for your help. With the exception of being in two relationships which both ultimately failed I have been living with my parents for all my life. The first one being whilst I was living out in Bradford with my first boyfriend/fiance who was at University at the time and the second time was when I was actually married for a year to a somewhat famous Youtube celebrity which I will not delve into talking more about because I feel that is far too personal and not the reason I have come to ask for help today. I was diagnosed at 21 with Aspergers and whilst I knew I had a disability I did not want to have to live with that label above my head all the time so for the most part I have been trying my best to deal with my problems headfirst all on my own. It has made it impossible to build up relationships with many people and even more harder to find work I am comfortable with as I know I can be pretty overwhelmed and my social anxiety can cause me to have pretty severe meltdowns. (I've had to call people to come find me over stupid little things like losing a housekey or misplacing my mp3 player.) Since then I have managed to pick myself up by having one job that lasted seven years until I was made redundant last year and have since started a new job last year which I adore however said job is out of town.

...Now here's where the other part of the story comes in. I have never been able to live by myself. Mostly because I don't earn enough to maintain a household all on my own and I feel I would not be able to cope due to my learning difficulties hence why I have been living with my parents. My Dad rarely opens up to me about anything at all and thats when I get to see him. He's a long distance truck driver so he's only really ever at home during some weekends and can even be away a couple of months at a time with his line of work. 

This brings me to my mother. 

Where to start with her? When my mother and I get on...we're great. We can sit watching movies together. Offer to make each other cups of tea etc you get the general gist. But there are things my mother will do that has caused me to become severely depressed over the years and is most likely at a point where her behaviour towards me is bordering on the emotionally abusive side. If I had to compare her to a fictional character the closest I can relate to her being is Mother Gothel from the movie "Tangled". Now what you need to understand about my mother is that she also has her own problems which include being a cat breeder and having a volatile mother. (Grandmother for me) who we are at our wits end with. Having all this stress and such and me being the only person at home for a majority of the time guess who all this stress and anger gets taken out on? That's right me. She has screamed at me for not seeing to HER cats when they are HER responsibility. Or if they have come down with some kind of sickness it'll somehow be my fault and she will make out it will be something to do my MY cat (Which isn't a breeding cat. I wanted my own cat so I wouldn't have to have a cat in the household associated with her.) and tell me he needs to be rehomed or put to sleep. (We've had bloodtests on him and it hasn't been the case at all. He's always come back clear.) I would also never forgive her if she were to get rid of Elvis as he is my emotional support cat. If not that there are other ways she shows her "love" towards me which I do not appreciate at all.

- She will sing loudly and off key just to gain my attention in the morning and wake me up when she knows I have troubles with trying to keep myself asleep. ( I often wake up at 2/3am in the morning and wind up staying up because I can't get back to sleep.) - If I'm working on something on my laptop she will hover behind me then put her hands on my keyboard and tap at the keys super quickly as if to make fun of my rapid typing as I write pretty quickly. - She will whine... YES whine at me to get her something she is quite capable of getting herself. We literally live 5 seconds away from a newsagents she will not venture off her chair to get her own snacks. - She refuses to read smallprint on anything and makes me read it. - INSISTS that just because I am an avid film fan I obviously must know about every film ever and ask me about spoilers much to my annoyance even though I tell her I know nothing about her chosen film choice. - If I decide on a project for myself she will take over and not let me get to attempt it on my own before I even get to ask for help. - She will lick me. Yes you heard that right... lick me when we're at home together. It'll be my face or my eye or my hand but to me this isn't right. I have two older siblings she NEVER does this to and I will scream at her to stop and get angry however she laughs it off thinking it's cute and I'll crack...but I draw the line. Because personal boundaries and as someone who's worried enough about the relationship I have with my mother I do not want to have to think there's some sexual abuse behind this as well. - When I offer to cook she will try and take over when I know exactly what I'm doing. - She will always ignore my advice I try to give her whilst handling with the likes of the cats or anything else and go ahead with the opposite anyway THEN decide it's my fault and scream at me like I was in the wrong to begin with. - If she sees a gay couple kiss on screen she will make out that it's disgusting and shouldn't be on TV even though she knows I am attracted to the same sex. - If I am trying my hardest to ignore her behaviour she will amp it up by a hundred and then laugh because she thinks that by doing it to me I will break when if anything she comes off as a 5 year old wanting attention. The list could go on forever, But I honestly can't live with this anymore. It sucks because I know there's a great deal of stuff I can't do without her but at the same time I know I have to gain my independence from her if I have any chance of being able to function like a proper adult in the real world. One day she and Dad aren't going to be there and I do not want to ask my siblings for help as they have their own families and problems to deal with. I also do not want to go to my grandma for help as she makes it clear she does not support me for my life choices and I know if I was alone with her it would be as bad if not worse living with her. I have certain bouts of "badbrain" or depression which make me moody and feel as if I have no one I can speak to about these things and when I see other people speaking online together about their problems and I get ignored it just spirals my depression even further as I do not wish to speak to my mother about these things and I have very few close friends in my area. Infact all my closest friends either live out towards London or overseas so they're unable to help me throughout what I deal with on a day to day basis due to distance and time differences. I make as little as £350 a month with my current job and Universal Credit mixed together, I currently have to pay £10.50 a week to travel around town and £13.50 (£25 on Sundays at time because there are no trains that travel as early as I need to travel at work) a day when I travel out to Doncaster for my current job. I have no intention of leaving if I don't have to but Scunthorpe is a dying town. I do not drive and the buses aren't regular enough for me to get out to any of the places where the bigger franchises have moved out to. I am asking right now for £10,000 to help me find somewhere to rent in Doncaster that will allow pets ( I will be taking my cat and hamster with me.) and pay for bills (Internet, Electricity, Water, Food etc.) to help me get started on my feet and hopefully find another part time job on top of the one I already have to help keep me there and I can function alone. My goal is to try and find somewhere in Doncaster by the beginning of next year to do this, This will give me time to speak to my family about how I feel and time to find somewhere that would be located easily near where I work so I can travel to each day with ease.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this, and I am grateful for any help you'll be able to give to me.

[qveenpoppy]

fall trailers recap (as of 5/17)

okay, so, i didn’t watch all of the trailers that came out for new fall tv series (some just do not interest me). nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the ones i did watch:

the gifted - i am not much of an x-men person. do i have interest in the films? a little, but at this point it seems like too much to take on. however, this series does look interesting, especially considering that the two mutant teens have a father who literally locks up mutants for a living. will make for an interesting show, and like legion, i can see this being pretty popular on social media. also, hello, little lev tashi’ne! wonder how the unwind production will continue now that one of their stars has a leading tv role... hmm...

the orville - one of several trailers on this list that surprised me. anyone that follows me on my other blog knows i have become a star trek fan in the past year (blame chris pine and his stupidly handsome face - and karl urban too), so it was inevitable for me to have some interest in what is essentially a parody series. and honestly? it looks great. the set feels reminiscent of the original enterprise set from the 1960s series (in that it’s quite basic and perfect for tv), and it’s good to see seth macfarlane in something that isn’t animated for once. (he was surprisingly lovable in sing, though, if i’m being honest.) i laughed quite a few times during this trailer, and i can definitely see myself giving this series a try. (i’ll have to play catch-up the following day, though, since its broadcast conflicts with this is us!)

ghosted - more parody series! this time more along the lines of x-files, a show i never watched. this gave me a feel of that with a dash of ghostbusters, and it feels a little... i don’t know, cheesy? the two leads seem okay and the trailer had its moments, but i’ll pass on this one. (fox comedies do tend to fall flat for me...)

will & grace - not exactly a new series, but still a series i wanted to comment on. the trailer was amusing (hello singing agent maclaren, lol), but did make me wonder if this reboot could work. while i love the original series, times have changed since it first aired. gay is a bit more normal, especially on tv. most shows will feature at least one lgbtq+ character nowadays, so the uniqueness of will & grace isn’t there anymore. it just feels like any other show on tv. will original viewers of the series still tune in? probably. but don’t expect it to be as buzzed about as reboots like x-files or gilmore girls. will & grace is a great sitcom that probably should have been left alone as is.

deception - i was interest in this series just when i read about it getting a series order, so i was highly anticipating the trailer. it’s tv’s now you see me, basically, except the magician works for the law. (considering the fact that a producer on the series is in fact associated with the nysm franchise, i would love for there to be implications of a shared universe.) otherwise, it feels like any other procedural out there now, with the man having some ability that makes him more capable of solving crimes. this may be bc the partner is a woc, but it vaguely reminds me of minority report... i do mean vaguely. it just follows the same formula.

the good doctor - another trailer that surprised me. in my eyes, it feels like limitless (hello boyle!) meets house. it looks really good. something i can 100% see myself trying come fall. it does help that the lead actor, freddie highmore, is someone i’ve seen in films since even he was a child. (charlie and the chocolate factory ring a bell? that movie was terrible, but he was a cute kid actor.) i have seen some people complain a little that he’s playing an autistic doctor but doesn’t have autism himself in real life, and i do see why that would be a problem. still, i think that makes it even more of a challenge for him to get that part of the character right, and therefore show off more of his talent. if they make mistakes along the way with how they portray autism, then we really have a problem.

the alienist - you all know why i watched this trailer. luke evans, the current love of my life (he’s gorgeous and ridiculously talented and oh so sweet, okay?), is a lead on this series. (it’s surprising to see him go to tv considering that his film career is just continuing to blossom, but tv has adopted a lot of film stars lately - hbo’s big little lies has a bunch of them - so maybe i shouldn’t be so surprised.) that probably has a lot to do with why i liked the trailer, bc it’s normally not my kind of show. but the period drama aspect gives me flashbacks to the past (not present day) scenes of forever and time after time, so i can potentially give this show a try. it is an event series, so it can’t hurt too much to get into considering it won’t last long, meaning not a lot to dedicate myself to. heck, i could probably wait to binge the season over two days. but we’ll see, bc dan stevens’ tv run creeped me out, so this could do the same.

star trek: discovery - again, i like star trek. a lot. so this series does interest me a little. can’t say i will watch it, though, bc the prequel aspect just loses me. i’d probably be more interested if it were just like the original series and featured kirk or spock - even in quick cameo roles. but ten years before the events of the original series? yeah, count me out. i do support its diverse cast, and for a tv series, the effects are, no pun intended, out of this world. i cannot believe the budget they must have had for this show.

9jkl - i’m pretty sure i clicked play on this trailer by accident. but holy crap, i’m so glad i watched it. it looks like a hilarious sitcom, which is surprising considering how campy other cbs sitcoms tend to feel. a comment-er on the trailer says this feels campy too, but i don’t think so. the basic plot, with an actor living back home with his parents - though said home is actually an apartment next door - does sound a little cheesy, but the humor is good. a bit risque considering all the sex references, but surprisingly funny. i do recognize two actors on the show (i don’t know names, sorry!) - one is ross and monica’s father from friends, and i believe the other was the lead on about a boy? anyway, i don’t watch a lot of sitcoms, but i’ll definitely try this one - i didn’t give the cbs schedule much of a look, so i’ll have to make sure this is on at a time that works for me!

me, myself, and i - one youtube comment-er described this show perfectly: “it’s like the wonder years meets this is us”. i definitely get that sort of feel from this show. it’ll be interesting to watch these three different timelines all move at once, considering that there are characters besides the lead who we’ll see in the future while we simultaneously watch their past unfold. (like the lead’s daughter - there’ll probably be a lot of foreshadowing regarding her future career that we’ll already see turning out in the future portions of the show.) but i do like that connection between past and future with the crush. i wonder if that girl will pop up at all in the present day timeline. i’m a fan of bobby moynihan’s from snl, so i’m happy to see him branching out. and i’m also so ready to root for that child actor from the past portion of the show. he seems quite charming, adorable, and talented.

young sheldon - never saw an episode of big bang theory. however, this was trending on twitter for a while today, so i got curious. it started off feeling a bit cheesy and like a hallmark film, but the more i watched, the more heart it had. it wasn’t overly funny, but it was cute. and this must be the year of the child actor, bc man, a star is being born here. this does give me a little bit of forest gump vibes, except sheldon is actually a genius. maybe it’s more his behavior, which i’m assuming is Asperger or something, that has me giving that comparison. i probably won’t watch this one, but i’ll root for it to succeed.