What are you watching?

[Andrewchristlieb]

Ya they really know how to ruin a movie with previews :/. My wife really liked the last Star Trek movie which was a surprise because she never really cared much for it before. Hopefully this one will be about the same. What Im really looking forward to tho is Ender's Game! Ive loved the books since I was a kid.

[Pendrake]

Ya they really know how to ruin a movie with previews :/. My wife really liked the last Star Trek movie which was a surprise because she never really cared much for it before. Hopefully this one will be about the same. What Im really looking forward to tho is Ender's Game! Ive loved the books since I was a kid.

The one or two Star Trek trailers I saw actually did a bit of misdirecting and served to create (some) surprise(s).

[Ruckdog]

So, I finally saw Into Darkness last night. Not bad at all! I really liked all the Star Trek II references and the way they reversed the roles of Kirk and Spock. Overall, I thought it was technically well done and well acted, a worthy successor to the 2009 Star Trek movie. That being said, it still doesn't quite feel like Star Trek to me; the strength of Star Trek has always been in its characterization, but it feels like the Abrams vision is to focus more on the action and less on the drama. The emotional impact of this movie felt much less than it did in TWOK.

[MadDrB]

Cool.  But I'm holding my breath to see the sequel to MASTER & COMMANDER play in the theater.

In small screen news, I've been watching GAME OF THRONES and for the past season it seems there is at least one scene in each episode which features a sailing ship.  They are very much along the look of a xebec rather than a European galleon or square-rigged ship, and that makes me happy....  Now, if only there was more screen time featuring the Greyjoys in their longboats raiding coastal villages!

[Landlubber]

Going to dust the cobwebs off this old thread...

So I'm currently watching Babylon 5 for the first time (as mentioned in a previous thread, I'm tired of having my nerd cred called into question).  Only a few episodes into the first season--I'm told that the first few episodes are a little rough, and they were.  But I'm also told it gets better, so I'm going to stick it out.

Also just watched the pilot episode for "TURN", on AMC, about the Culper spy ring during the American Revolutionary War.  The first episode was pretty good; I know next to nothing about the Culper spy ring, so I keep the iPad close at hand so I can pause the show and look things up.  AMC has a pretty good track record with quality shows, so I expect this will do well.

Just watched the season 2 premier of Orphan Black.  Great little show, if you like your sci-fi in the form of genetic experiments.  I highly recommend it.

And finally, I'm about to start the third season of Smallville.  Been wanting to try this show for quite some time, so I finally started watching it over Xbox Live.  After watching the first two seasons, I'm definitely hooked, so I'm going to start buying the DVDs for the rest of the seasons.  It's cheesy, and the acting and special effects aren't the best, but it's become my guilty pleasure.  I've always been a Superman fan anyway.

What are you all watching?

[Andrewchristlieb]

The whole first season of B5 was questionable, it gets better much much better. Some of the best scifi storytelling is still ahead of you  .

As for what I'm watching? Everything.  I do actually watch a ridiculous amount of tv though, comes with the job (I work for Dish). Right now I've got the last four episodes of this seasons Lost Girl, a couple Grimms, and the Orphan Blacks premiere on the dvr. We're also following Drop Dead Diva, Resurrection, Once Upon a Time, The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy, Bones, The Blacklist, Castle, Melissa and Joey, Agents of Shield, Glee, New Girl, Trophy Wife, Revolution, The Middle, Suburgatory, Whose Line is it Anyway?, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Bad Teacher (maybe, new show). Eagerly awaiting the return of some summer favorites like Defiance and Falling Skies too and there are a couple new summer shows that look promising. My wife has a few I don't watch too but this is everything I follow. 

Props on the Orphan Black btw, we were really surprised by that little gem, amazing acting there with all the different personas. Great show wither you're into scifi or not (so far its been pretty light on the scifi and is very much about the characters.

[Landlubber]

Agreed on Orphan Black.  I always have to remind myself that it's the same actress playing all those parts--she really nails it.

Man, that's a LOT of TV.  We're Big Bang Theory fans, and have been watching Castle from the start.  Cop shows aren't our thing, but we watched because of Nathan Fillion, then really got into the show.  Watched the first season of Once Upon a Time, really enjoyed it, but never started season 2.  Maybe we'll get caught up this summer.

I know, I know, everyone says that about B5.  I'm fairly patient, so I'm willing to give it several episodes to draw me in.  Typically, in my opinion, very few shows can hook you in the first episode or two.  Lost and the new BSG are two notable exceptions to that rule!

[MadDrB]

So I'm currently watching Babylon 5 for the first time (as mentioned in a previous thread, I'm tired of having my nerd cred called into question).  Only a few episodes into the first season--I'm told that the first few episodes are a little rough, and they were.  But I'm also told it gets better, so I'm going to stick it out.

I tried the first episode at one point, for similar reasons you cite, but didn't bother with more than that.

Also just watched the pilot episode for "TURN", on AMC, about the Culper spy ring during the American Revolutionary War.  The first episode was pretty good; I know next to nothing about the Culper spy ring, so I keep the iPad close at hand so I can pause the show and look things up.  AMC has a pretty good track record with quality shows, so I expect this will do well.

My new historical nerd passion is for everything related to the French & Indian War or the Revolutionary War, and the only "historical" miniature painting I'm doing these days is related to that period.  I loved this show just for the costumes alone!

[Landlubber]

Watched the next couple episodes of TURN... Pretty good!  Got the wife into watching it as well, and she's liking it too.

In other news, I finished season three of Smallville this afternoon, and immediately ordered season four from Amazon.  What is the definition of addiction???

[Ruckdog]

Hee hee, hard to say! I've seen a little Smallville; a lot of my Academy classmates were big into that show when it was still on the air.

My wife and I have been re-watching Star Trek: TNG on blu-ray. It is amazing how good the show looks after having been re-mastered for that format. Easily stands up to anything being made today (although the 4:3 aspect ratio still dates it a bit).

[Andrewchristlieb]

The terrible costumes dont help with the first few seasons of tng but I grew up on that so I love it. My wife never got into that one but she fell in love with ds9 and we've done some voyager. Lately we binged on the Librarian movies in preperation for the new series coming out on TNT. We've got some American Horrorstory on Netflix and our summer shows coming up so lots of tv in the future. We're planning on hitting up the drive-in this weekend for a double feature of Maleficent and X-Men too! Im stoked, Maleficent is my favorite Disney character so .

[Landlubber]

Hee hee, hard to say! I've seen a little Smallville; a lot of my Academy classmates were big into that show when it was still on the air.

You had time to watch TV at the academy?!    As I write this, I have only about 8 episodes left in season 4.  If I spent as much time painting as I did watching that show, all my ships would be done.  I don't know what it is--I just like it!

I have a goal to someday watch TNG cover-to-cover.  I've seen at least half of all the episodes, along with the beginning and end, but I know I've missed quite a few.  Do you have a favorite episode(s)?  I have two that I can think of:  "Darmok", and "The Wounded".  Can't remember what seasons they were in, but I know they weren't in the first two.

Andrew--a lot of people have told me that the DS9 storyline is outstanding, far better than TNG.  I never got thru the first season.  Thoughts?  And what TNT show is based on the Librarian movies?

Also, if you've not seen this trailer, this show looks like it has potential:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0d1zpt6k5OI

That is, if FOX doesn't cancel it!  (Like they did with Almost Human, those bastards.)

[Ruckdog]

With DS9, it's really the Dominion War arcs that people are referring to when they talk about the superiority of the show's storytelling over TNG. The Dominion War is unique in all of Trekdom. First of all, it is a multi-episode story arc. Maybe not as tightly written as Babylon 5 (the entire arc for B5's entire run was essentially planned out in some detail before the pilot aired), but certainly much more so than the few flimsy continuity nods that were seen from time to time in TNG and Voyager. Second of all, it has a strong militaristic tone, very different from the "We're Explorers!" wonder of TNG. We're talking total war on an interplanetary scale, featuring huge set-piece battles with huge fleets of star ships battling it out to the finish. That kind of setting and action tends to appeal to a slightly different group than the hopeful tones of TNG, and I think that (combined with the admittedly stronger continuity and storytelling) are what drives some fans to say that DS9 is "better." YMMV, though; I still prefer TNG .
 

[Andrewchristlieb]

I actually like all the tng, ds9, and voy series but tng is still my favorite by a hair. That aside ds9 had a great cast of actors (probably the best of any modern trek) and the cgi was just starting to become feasible for the small screen so there were a lot of fun action sequences. The characters were what sold it for my wife, except Kira, she hates Kira but then thats a pretty good character to drive an emotional response. I liked it once they got the whitestar... I mean Defiant (come on, there had to be a rip off dig in there somewhere!) but prior to that they just felt too tethered compared to tng and voy.

Now ds9 or babylon 5? Sadly its no contest, B5 trumps every trek show Ive seen so far. (There are a handful of voy and ent Ive missed over the years).

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3663490/

We were big leverage fans so when we heard about this we figured it might be worth checking out. I like Noah Wile in Falling Skies too, but it looks like he is just going to have bit parts in this since FS is still in production.

[MadDrB]

Watched the pilot episode of the new series on TNT called The Lost Ship.  It's available to watch online with commercials:

http://www.tntdrama.com/videos/the-last-ship/season-1/episode-1/phase-six.html?SR=The_Last_Ship

Save for a couple of scenes on land to establish the premise of the story, the episode revolved around a US naval destroyer at sea, and with lots of great footage more like that seen in the film Captain Phillips as opposed to the CGI weirdness in the Battleship movie (yes, I saw at least the first half of that--it was too tempting to resist completely).