Both of those are good points, particularly yours, Krensky. She's not a random innocent.
Initial feelings.
Not sure if I'm ok with random mook that Thea beats the crap of getting the better of Oliver in a fair fight. You know, the same Oliver that beat Ras in a fair fight? Felt it would have been better written if he got the drop on Oliver.
Loved Merlin giving Thea minions to kill after the bogus sage stuff.
Loved Nyssa coming back around, and the little quip about her still being married to Oliver.
Loved Nyssa's...little quip about her still being married to Oliver.
I missed that. What did she say?
I believe she called Thea her sister-in-law.
I liked so much about this last episode, and a series highlight for acting goes to Paul Blackthorne as he struggles with Sarah near the end of the episode. That was amazing.
Less so was the leader of the rogue cops. Every other sentence out of her mouth contradicted what she'd just said a moment before. I'd give her the award for most poorly written character in the series so far, which is saying something.
Still, Paul Blackthorne was fantastic. Dude got me teared up as he kept whispering, "You're not her. You're not her."
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I liked so much about this last episode, and a series highlight for acting goes to Paul Blackthorne as he struggles with Sarah near the end of the episode. That was amazing.
Less so was the leader of the rogue cops. Every other sentence out of her mouth contradicted what she'd just said a moment before. I'd give her the award for most poorly written character in the series so far, which is saying something.
Still, Paul Blackthorne was fantastic. Dude got me teared up as he kept whispering, "You're not her. You're not her."
It was amazing. I always loved that they got Blacthorne. He's an amazing method actor.
Yeah, I was really bummed the Dresden Files series bombed so hard. It wasn't very good, but the man was great in it.
Ehhhh, not really. It doesn't have much to do with the actual series, and nothing besides Blackthorne himself particularly stands out abut it.
It watches a bit more like Constantine than Dresden, a lot of spooky occult stuff going on and Dresden fighting it every week.
/offtopic It also changes the plots of the episodes based off the books to be extremely different; in the case of Fool Moon, literally the only remote similarity (other than the topic of werewolves) between the two was a spoiler for the BBEG (actual occurrences and motives were quite different, and it also totally goes against Dresden lore on werewolves for the more popular depictions).
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/offtopic It also changes the plots of the episodes based off the books to be extremely different; in the case of Fool Moon, literally the only remote similarity (other than the topic of werewolves) between the two was a spoiler for the BBEG (actual occurrences and motives were quite different, and it also totally goes against Dresden lore on werewolves for the more popular depictions).
Imagine showing the Loup-gaoru trashing the police station. That's at least R rated.
/offtopic It also changes the plots of the episodes based off the books to be extremely different; in the case of Fool Moon, literally the only remote similarity (other than the topic of werewolves) between the two was a spoiler for the BBEG (actual occurrences and motives were quite different, and it also totally goes against Dresden lore on werewolves for the more popular depictions).Imagine showing the Loup-gaoru trashing the police station. That's at least R rated.
And probably an HBO level budget to pull off.
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And probably an HBO level budget to pull off./offtopic It also changes the plots of the episodes based off the books to be extremely different; in the case of Fool Moon, literally the only remote similarity (other than the topic of werewolves) between the two was a spoiler for the BBEG (actual occurrences and motives were quite different, and it also totally goes against Dresden lore on werewolves for the more popular depictions).Imagine showing the Loup-gaoru trashing the police station. That's at least R rated.
I would love to see HBO, Showtime, or even Netflix pick up the rights to the Dresdenverse and do the series right.
Umm, yeah, SECONDED on the Paul Blackthorne in this episode. And honestly, on him an Ollie in his apartment. I love that image.
See go back and watch all his stuff in the show. When they film Captain Lance, even when sitting down he's always ram rod straight, at attention or looking down at people. Even with Laurel he always seems, for lack of a better term "judgy." I guess in my opinion they've always filmed him on screen as sort of "I'm better than you"
Then he comes home and finds Ollie.
His whole frame CRUMPLED into that chair. He even knew that his own reasons were bogus "they threatened my kid" to which Ollie replies "she can take care of herself! You've seen her out there?!" And you can see it, right there, Blackthorne's acting is that good that you can see it on Lance's face: he knows its all true. He made a bad call; he's working with the villain.
And THEN there's the bit with Sara.
Oh man, being a dad with daughters that scene was CHILLING to me. He's just whimpering, not even whispering but WHIMPERING and shaking "you're not HER..." that was moving. I still think Laurel is a bit too 2-dimensional but I love that Captain Lance can swing so much from high-and-mighty judge that everyone has to measure up to and then to a broken man.
All the other characters can be flat from time to time or their "real" moments can be a bit too clichéd. Blackthorne however is good at reminding us though that Captain Lance is a recovering alcoholic, a latchkey dad with a failed marriage who always prided himself on having ONE thing in his life: he was a GOOD cop. And now... he's on Darke's payroll.
Can you imagine how broken you'd feel? How irredeemable? And yet at the ZERO hour a moment comes along that reminds him what it is to wear the badge.
Having seen the series before I so much as read a single book, I can say that the Dresden Files TV show was fun and very enjoyable, even if it didn't really follow the books at all. In fact, the episodes that were closest to the books were the poorest, because they had this odd dynamic that didn't exist in the show previously.
And I can also say without a doubt that's due to Blackthorne. He manages to turn any role into gold, even if it's just one-shot villain on Burn Notice. If you weren't "tainted" by love of the admittedly fantastic book series, you would likely enjoy Dresden Files more. Too bad it got canceled.
Having seen the series before I so much as read a single book, I can say that the Dresden Files TV show was fun and very enjoyable, even if it didn't really follow the books at all. In fact, the episodes that were closest to the books were the poorest, because they had this odd dynamic that didn't exist in the show previously.
And I can also say without a doubt that's due to Blackthorne. He manages to turn any role into gold, even if it's just one-shot villain on Burn Notice. If you weren't "tainted" by love of the admittedly fantastic book series, you would likely enjoy Dresden Files more. Too bad it got canceled.
Everyone I knew who had read Dresden Files disliked the series, but every fantasy fan I know who had not read the series liked it.
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Everyone I knew who had read Dresden Files disliked the series, but every fantasy fan I know who had not read the series liked it.Having seen the series before I so much as read a single book, I can say that the Dresden Files TV show was fun and very enjoyable, even if it didn't really follow the books at all. In fact, the episodes that were closest to the books were the poorest, because they had this odd dynamic that didn't exist in the show previously.
And I can also say without a doubt that's due to Blackthorne. He manages to turn any role into gold, even if it's just one-shot villain on Burn Notice. If you weren't "tainted" by love of the admittedly fantastic book series, you would likely enjoy Dresden Files more. Too bad it got canceled.
I am a huge fan of the books, and I still enjoyed the show. It wasn't the books, but I knew that going in. I actually like some of the choices made in the show more than the book version, and Jim Butcher has even said that he liked the ghost-Bob more than the floating head Bob. Hell, he only wrote Bob as a talking head to specifically send a screw you to one of his writing professors who said "never use a talking head".
Another big turn-off was the fact that they cast the actress who auditioned as Susan as Murphy. I think she did a great job of being a hard-ass female cop, but a lot of people couldn't get over he not being a 5' nothing petite blond.
Because of the differences it was never able to capture the core book audience, and it was reasonably expensive to produce, so syphy pulled the plug.
However, the rights have reverted back to Jim, so hopefully he can sell them to a network or production company that can do the job right.
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What I had a big issue with was the senseless changes to the books' mythology (generally in favor of generic Hollywood versions), Dresden using a hockey stick instead of a wizard's staff (because somehow a guy carrying a hockey stick down the street while dressed in normal clothes was somehow less conspicuous) and the whole non-sense of Harry advertising himself as a wizard (both on his door and in the Yellow Pages) while trying to convince Murphy (and various other folks) that the supernatural didn't exist.
The reason for that is actually pretty compelling, and fits in very well with the Occultist class explanation of magic.
The hockey stick was chosen as a focus because it was the hockey stick of a champion of the ice, and it had accumulated a log of energy by being exposed to thousands of cheering fans. Same deal with drumstick.
The shows developer Robert Hewitt Wolfe was very active on the Jim Butcher message boards during the production of the show, and explained a lot of the reasoning behind the changes.
As for trying to convince Murphy (and various other folks) that the supernatural didn't exist, reread the first few books. Harry routinely lies to people about the existence of various spooky stuff to keep them safe, and it constantly bites him in the ass and causes trust issues with Murphy.
A lot of the problems I think boiled down to them trying to do too much of the books and convert it into a weekly show. The books each are the 1 big story for the year, but realistically they are maybe 2 part episodes of the 12-22 stories they would need for a season. Your basically left trying to come up with dozens of new stories to fill out the show, while simultaneously progressing the meta-plot at not a glacial pace.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I liked the Constantine episode last night. Wasn't a big fan of the series on NBC, but thought he was a good addition to the Arrow/Flashverse. I would be happy to see him pop up on the shows once or twice a year, or even become a full time team member for Legends of Tomorrow season 2 or something.
Yeah, I was kinda hoping he'd stick around for the rest of this season. His occult knowledge would very plausibly be necessary when fighting Dharrk.
Maybe he'll show up again (plus now there's potential he could call Ollie for help on a tough job!).
Well, that made me wish I hadn't left Constantine to sit on my DVR, only to erase it when the show got cancelled.
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you didn't see it at all because it got cancelled? Why?
Because many shows (including Constantine) that get cancelled end on a cliffhanger.
That will never be resolved.
It's MADDENING.
I'm still pissed about Reaper.
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Firefly and Almost Human didn't really leave off on cliffhangers. Merely unanswered questions.
Now look at say, the season 2 finale of Alphas.
I would have watched it eventually, but I have tons of media I consume, and so sometimes something has to give. I chose to lose Constantine mostly because other stuff was still going and if I had to choose something to cut, I figured better something cancelled.
Definition of High INT, Low WIS:
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Catching up, I had to chuckle at the new Green Arrow intro.
Ollie sound so.. Up beat and chipper compared to the early seasons.
In the latest episode, he actually smiles and laughs during a conversation (about relationship issues) with Diggle, and I had to pause and rewind, because it looked so strange. :)
And then I looked back later and he had his shirt off, for like, no reason at all, and I was like, 'Oh, WB, never change.'
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Yeah, Ollie's crawling slowly toward the character he is in the comics. Very slowly. Like glacially. A sloth in slow motion could've hit that mark by now.
Did I mention its a slow progression?
Still it is nice to see him getting there. I just hope there isn't some brutal consequence that comes along and reminds him what happens when he cares about other people and turns him dark again.
Green Arrow was Batman with a bow for the first thirty or so years of his existence.
In the sense of having an Arrowcar, Arrowcave, Arrowplane, Arrow signal, boy sidekick and a utility belt -- er, quiver -- full of trick arrows, yes; but even then only because for the first thirty years of Green Arrow's existence (1941-1971), Batman wasn't Batman as we know him now. You will remember, as many do not, that Batman -- although never exactly Mr. Happy -- wasn't always a brooding, grim spectre of justice.
I don't think comics Oliver went dark before Mike Grell got hold of him in The Longbow Hunters. So it could be argued that he's been Batman (as we now know Batman) with a bow for the most recent thirty or so years of his existence.
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Hama, I completely agree. The comm-banter during the raid of the Kord warehouse was excellent! I also really liked Ollie and Diggle just having a drink together and talking about women troubles. Not only was it good to see Diggle joking with Oliver again and their relationship starting to heal, but that kind of stuff is profoundly humanizing.
I also really enjoyed Felicity's heart to heart with her mom. All that added up to one of the more heartfelt and enjoyable episodes of the series to date, in my view.
The only thing missing is Roy. He and Ollie sharing that "How are you? -Not good. You? -Not good." conversation last season was soooo good. I'd like to see some of that kind of interplay between Ollie and Thea now.
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Captain Lance, run. Run while you still can.
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Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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"Do you know what I miss from the old place? That trunk with russian vodka in it." *Oliver approves.*
That was some good scene.
I was thinking, are they gonna bring Ted Kord in to the series? I know that they wanted to use him a while ago, but they couldn't so they used Atom instead. But still, one wonders.