The Official Good Television Thread

[rms]

Been sitting on this for a while--thoughts on Westworld and some more firebombing consciousness:

"Hard Problems: Beyond Westworld" - http://borrowingfromthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/02/hard-problems-beyond-westworld.html

I enjoyed it Ein. A shame you had to be inspired by that trivial crap in Westworld to write that theme, to which I totally agree. Not sure I agree it's an actual concern in Westworld rather than Ex Machina (dont remember it being in TD enough) but then again, Ex Machina is so much better to me than Westworld

 

[Einherjar86]

Thanks.

Westworld didn't inspire the ideas about consciousness; I've been talking about that stuff for a while. But I genuinely think that Westworld did something very compelling and intelligent, which was to craft an analogy between the androids' quest for consciousness and the human construction of narrative. I actually don't think Ex Machina was concerned with narrative at all (not in a thematic sense, anyway). Ex Machina was more philosphical, i.e. it was interested in hard questions about consciousness. Westworld was more interested in the analogy between consciousness and narrative, and I used that as a segue to the "hard problem" issue.

The major impetus for writing this was hearing Ford's line and thinking to myself "Rust Cohle said something very similar in True Detective..."

 

[rms]

I don't understand how narrative and philosophical can be separated here but think Maeve's story line is analogous to the male lead/female android of Ex Machina but on a more 'shallow' level

but it does remind me I should rewatch season 1 of True Detective again

 

[Einherjar86]

I don't understand how narrative and philosophical can be separated here but think Maeve's story line is analogous to the male lead/female android of Ex Machina but on a more 'shallow' level

What I mean is that Westworld seems more interested (in my opinion) in issues concerning literary theory and narrative theory, and presents a compelling analogy between narrative and how consciousness works; but it isn't that interested in philosophy of mind per se. One glaring piece of evidence for this is that the show draws on Julian Jaynes, whose ideas about consciousness have been mostly debunked. They're drawing on his work because it resonates with narrative theory, not because it's an accurate model of consciousness.

Ex Machina is much more invested in the problem of other minds, which is a major question in philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.

There is overlap between literary/narrative theory and these philosophical questions, but their treatment in the film/show positions them more like a Venn diagram.

but it does remind me I should rewatch season 1 of True Detective again

It rewards multiple viewings.

 

[CiG]

I think it specifically rewards Woody.

 

[Einherjar86]

inb4 penis pun.

 

[CiG]

 

[rms]

It rewards multiple viewings.

think it will be 4th or 5th viewing. almost done with Six Feet Under round 2

 

[tagradh]

The Expanse, 2.0 baby. Love this show.

Eh.

It could be a lot better. The CGI is good. Some of the cast/acting is decent (I think Miller and Amos are alright, the woman doing Avasarala would probably be good if the character wasn't being done so poorly - WE CAN HAVE HEADS BLOWN OFF BUT GOD FORBID SOMEONE USES NAUGHTY LANGUAGE. If The Magicians can have swearing, why can't this?) but some are shit. The one playing Bobbie sucks and, again, the way they've written the character, the dialogue in particular, is fucking cringe. Scenes like Holden blowing up the little space ship are awful. Most of the stuff with Johnson sucks. The whole thing is a bit of a mess. Which is impressive, given that the books are fairly simple affairs. The Eros protomolecule parts are nowhere near dark enough. If they're not allowed/willing to make it as grim as it is in the books then they should go with implying rather than showing, with all the shitty fluorescent zombies that entails.

Been watching the new series of Baskets. Good stuff.

 

[no country for old wainds]

rip

 

[Einherjar86]

Eh.

It could be a lot better. The CGI is good. Some of the cast/acting is decent (I think Miller and Amos are alright, the woman doing Avasarala would probably be good if the character wasn't being done so poorly - WE CAN HAVE HEADS BLOWN OFF BUT GOD FORBID SOMEONE USES NAUGHTY LANGUAGE. If The Magicians can have swearing, why can't this?) but some are shit. The one playing Bobbie sucks and, again, the way they've written the character, the dialogue in particular, is fucking cringe. Scenes like Holden blowing up the little space ship are awful. Most of the stuff with Johnson sucks. The whole thing is a bit of a mess. Which is impressive, given that the books are fairly simple affairs. The Eros protomolecule parts are nowhere near dark enough. If they're not allowed/willing to make it as grim as it is in the books then they should go with implying rather than showing, with all the shitty fluorescent zombies that entails.

Can't say enough about it yet, as I'm still catching up to speed (didn't read all of your comment because I'm not sure if you reference anything). I think the acting is pretty solid, although some of it is pretty sensationalist, I suppose. The effects are as good as one can hope for on cable television, I think. Regarding the anti-molecule, it would be cool if they went darker with it; I thought the conclusion to last season was pretty dark. Haven't read the books though, so I can't compare.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I binged this series with some friends of mine and it is excellent. Bruce Campbell is at the top of his game and the supporting cast (Lucy Lawless, especially) is fantastic. Totally worthy of the trilogy it continues from.

I'm pumped for season three.

 

[tagradh]

 

[Krow]

I binged this series with some friends of mine and it is excellent. Bruce Campbell is at the top of his game and the supporting cast (Lucy Lawless, especially) is fantastic. Totally worthy of the trilogy it continues from.

I'm pumped for season three.

Glad to see some love for this. Fuck I laugh manically at some of the scenes in this. I laughed so hard at the whole morgue thing where the cadaver pulls him up it's ass with its intestines I nearly physically injured myself.

I specifically have a Starz subscription on my Amazon prime for this show. I've already got the first season on Blu ray, will keep that theme going because these are going to become part of Halloween tradition, just like the original films.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I've been binge watching Big Love again and woke up today to see Bill Paxton died. Sucks, he was a great actor. R.I.P.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

wtf

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Man i really want to start watching the X-Files again(only seen a few episodes from S1), but that shit has like 30 seasons .... fuuuck, so intimidating.

 

[arg]

Black mirror is a pretty interesting series

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

yeah, i started with season 3 ... and was somewhat disappointed with the first two in comparison.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I was watching this series again earlier and the first two seasons are classic. I wish that they stuck with the manga though. If that was what ended up happening with the third season, it would have been one of the best anime ever.