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Netflix: Flicks? On the Internet? That's just crazy talk!

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
It sounds like Burton is directing but the Smallville creators are showrunning. I don’t know if that makes the situation better or worse.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
I feel like someone mentioned that at one point, but if not:

There is a documentary about the history of He-Man. Only watched the first third of it by now, but I find it really interesting. It's called The Power of Grayskull.

And I just learned that J. Michael Straczynski, Mr. Babylon 5, worked as a writer on the original He-Man cartoon. Huh.
 
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SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Anyone watched Shadow and Bone yet? I'm not familiar with the books it's based on but it seems to be a fairly entertaining YA fantasy story, if a bit predictable and by-the-numbers so far. But I've been in the mood for some genre TV so I've been enjoying it.
 

BEAT

LOUDSKULL
(DUDE/BRO)
I could not make it through the first episode of season 3, where the show revealed that it really was going all in on being at least 30% STEP ON ME HOT EVIL LADY.
 

BEAT

LOUDSKULL
(DUDE/BRO)
Deliver us to the halcyon days of 2010 when castlevania the tv show only existed in our wildest dreams and we were all bissfully ignorant of Grant Morrison's Warren Ellis' long history of being a weird sex pest.
 
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Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I am hoping we get more “Unstoppable Lord of Terror” Drac and less “Suicidally Depressed Batdad” Drac.

One is a lot more fun to watch
 

Pajaro Pete

(He/Himbo)
Anyone watched Shadow and Bone yet? I'm not familiar with the books it's based on but it seems to be a fairly entertaining YA fantasy story, if a bit predictable and by-the-numbers so far. But I've been in the mood for some genre TV so I've been enjoying it.

I liked it. Surprisingly high budget for a Netflix genre show, and apparently it's a good adaptation of the source material (which is, let's be real, also surprising for a Netflix project)
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
So I finished Castlevania Season 4 and honestly, marked improvement over Season 3. It still has a few missteps, the first few episodes kind of meander a bit, but the last few episodes are a real trip and appreciate them making the entire last episode an epilogue with no action, just finishing some stories and setting up new ones.

Seems like they learned from the mistakes and criticisms of Season 3, Alucard is not nearly as mopey and Trevor and Sypha find new purpose rather quickly, even if it's one they absolutely hate (stopping Drac's resurrectiion), even Hector seems to be in a better place than the end of Season 3 left him, though both him and Isaac still seem to have the most disconnected plots overall. But we do get a reprise of my favorite Isaac scene from S3, his conversation with Flyeyes, and they have another chat where Isaac seems to be interrogating himself as much as the monster. I can't say if Isaac's weird, stupid journey was worth it in the end, but his big climactic episode is an absolute banger.

Then there's the return of Saint Germain, who is still a much more interesting character than most of the main cast, even if this time around he takes a villainous turn for very silly reasons. Bill Nighy is definitely doing the heavy lifting when it comes to making his character compelling, and at the very least by the end of the season he's come back around and evenends up sacrificing his life to put an end to the Dracula/Lisa homunculus (and boy is THAT a thing that needs to be analyzed eventually) and saves Trevor's life as his last act so that was good all around.

The big reveal of the baddie behind everything, though, is not something I'm going to spoil here, even under tags. It's something that'll make you go 'Ooohhhhh!' when you realize one important element of the Castlevania mythology has been missing until now, but even if you guess that much ahead of time the way it's revealed is still great.

The very last scene, though, is a bit of a puzzler. What with a newly resurrected Drac and Lisa, apparently, checking into an inn for some alone time. I guess when Saint Germain exploded the Elizadrac homunculus it kept them both alive somehow? So now the series ends with Drac being resurrected but instead of being hellbent on killing all of humanity he's now this chill dude traveling the countryside with his hot wife? Honestly, good for him.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
So I finished Castlevania Season 4 and honestly, marked improvement over Season 3. It still has a few missteps, the first few episodes kind of meander a bit, but the last few episodes are a real trip and appreciate them making the entire last episode an epilogue with no action, just finishing some stories and setting up new ones.

Seems like they learned from the mistakes and criticisms of Season 3, Alucard is not nearly as mopey and Trevor and Sypha find new purpose rather quickly, even if it's one they absolutely hate (stopping Drac's resurrectiion), even Hector seems to be in a better place than the end of Season 3 left him, though both him and Isaac still seem to have the most disconnected plots overall. But we do get a reprise of my favorite Isaac scene from S3, his conversation with Flyeyes, and they have another chat where Isaac seems to be interrogating himself as much as the monster. I can't say if Isaac's weird, stupid journey was worth it in the end, but his big climactic episode is an absolute banger.

Then there's the return of Saint Germain, who is still a much more interesting character than most of the main cast, even if this time around he takes a villainous turn for very silly reasons. Bill Nighy is definitely doing the heavy lifting when it comes to making his character compelling, and at the very least by the end of the season he's come back around and evenends up sacrificing his life to put an end to the Dracula/Lisa homunculus (and boy is THAT a thing that needs to be analyzed eventually) and saves Trevor's life as his last act so that was good all around.

The big reveal of the baddie behind everything, though, is not something I'm going to spoil here, even under tags. It's something that'll make you go 'Ooohhhhh!' when you realize one important element of the Castlevania mythology has been missing until now, but even if you guess that much ahead of time the way it's revealed is still great.

The very last scene, though, is a bit of a puzzler. What with a newly resurrected Drac and Lisa, apparently, checking into an inn for some alone time. I guess when Saint Germain exploded the Elizadrac homunculus it kept them both alive somehow? So now the series ends with Drac being resurrected but instead of being hellbent on killing all of humanity he's now this chill dude traveling the countryside with his hot wife? Honestly, good for him.
I'm nearly done, but I realized Varney was more important than he appeared the very moment I realized he was Malcolm McDowell, and Malcolm McDowell would not play Varney the Vampire
 

R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
I’m four episodes into this very slow new season. Reframing Dracula as the Rebis, the alchemical perfect being, is certainly an interesting choice. I’m very glad that Saint Germain got to wear his Curse of Darkness outfit, at least for a few seconds.

I do hope Alucard gets his mom out of hell.
 

Ixo

"This is not my beautiful forum!" - David Byrne
(Hi Guy)
Love Death and Robots is back, and none of y’all told me?


Geez.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
And now I’m done Castlevania.

Seapsn 4 was honestly the strongest one the show had. Even if you didn’t put together that Malcolm McDowell was more important than he appeared by merit of being played by Malcolm McDowell, I appreciated the subtle bit of foreshadowing with Varney by his tattered coat looking like a pair of scythes.

Also; Gergoth!
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I won’t lie; I was kind of let down that the music that played during the final battle was a reprise of the shows theme and not Vampire Killer or something.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
The aversion to classic Castlevania BGM is kind of baffling. It's like they saw the extremely positive reaction the Bloody Tears moment in Season 2 got and they went "Wow, everyone loved it, let's never do THAT again!"
 

Rascally Badger

El Capitan de la outro espacio
(He/Him)
I watched Shadow and Bone recently. That show refused to stick in my brain for some reason. I don't remember it being bad, even having finished it no more than a week ago I barely remember it at all. I see it and think it looks and sounds like something I would really like, but I just couldn't get on its wavelength.

I have stronger thoughts on Jupiter's Legacy, which is not necessarily praise. It is a weird mix of good and garbage. Like, the special effects look expensive, but the sets look cheap. The plot is just the start of Kingdom Come, stripped of most of the biblical parts, and is reasonably well acted. But the dialogue is frequently just laughable garbage, just clumsy and tone deaf. Its a weird show.
 

R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
I got a little too happy when Gergoth showed up and did a laser beam.

The fourth season was super great. Isaac and his million stands fighting Carmela. Grant Danasty finally kinda showing up as Greta from Danesti. Malcolm McDowell as Death being Malcolm Mcdowell. It all made me happy.
 
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SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I wasn't entirely sure it was 100% intentional, but with that character's otherwise notable absence I'll take it.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Finished Castlevania! Here's my opinion!

I feel like this was somehow simultaneously the best and worst take on Castlevania.

Somewhere on some iteration of these forums, I posted about how I would love to see a Marvel series that tackled the "minutia" of the Snap, and how it would impact other aspects of the Marvel Universe. Said it before, and I'll say it again: I would watch a 13-episode anthology series following people like Marvel Universe life insurance salesmen that have to deal with "Well, yes, Martha, we would love to give you your payout, but we have to wait five years, because, statistically, it has been proven that half the population can be dead for five years and return." This is something that interests me! There are some neat stories there! It is cool that we are getting stories about dealing with grief while punching terrorists, but I would also like to see incredibly mundane stories about living in a world where seemingly immutable laws of the universe do not apply. And it's not like this is completely out of the question from a storytelling perspective, either! There are ancient myths that deal with what exactly Hercules is doing today, and there are also myths that tell us thunder happens because Thor (not the Marvel one) is off thubbing trolls again, and we have to deal with the consequences. I want those stories, too! Give the robots and the super soldiers a break, I want to see how Doug from Accounting deals with working at a company that is owned by a dude who fights gods, and how that impacts Doug's life! More power to Doug!

But we're never going to see that series, because there's no way anyone at Disney is sending out a casting call for "Doug". You've got a superhero universe, you've got people that want to see superheroes fight other supercreatures, just go ahead and give the people what they want. Maybe Doug can be part of the program during Phase 32, but only after we get that Dennis Dunphy movie.

But, good news, I feel like we got that exact concept with Castlevania.

We got a noble Belmont and his allies fighting Dracula, so that box is well and truly checked. And I feel like, with that accomplished, someone sat down with the whole of Castlevania lore, and decided they were going to make a series about the things they found interesting in said lore. A barbarian with a whip fighting a vampire? That's been done. But a Devil Forgemaster? A person that takes human corpses and transforms them into monsters? Wow! Let's learn about those guys! What makes someone that does that tick? Why are they signing up for the genocide of their own race? Dracula has a giant castle filled with amazing technology and magic, so how does that contrast with the local villagers scampering about in the mud? And Dracula has been done, but a bevvy of vampire allies? How do they work? What do they get up to when Dracula isn't around? And speaking of Dracula not being around, who are the people that stop his resurrection? Why does that sound like a a literally eternal job? And there's a dude who is trying to travel through time and dimensions. What's his motivation? How does he fit into everything?

Does exploring every one of these questions work? No. (Easy example: Camilla is exhausting). But is it more interesting than Trevor spending six episodes just wrecking new configurations of skeletons? Yes.

And I want to say that, were this "just" like a blockbuster Netflix limited series or "Marvel Movie", it would be pretty much the plot of Castlevania 3 expanded to have some interesting character relationships. But we wound up with something that explored the more esoteric bits of a franchise that has been around for decades, and made itself something wholly separate and outside the "usual" of Castlevania. Does that make this a good Castlevania series? Probably not. But it is something that I feel is interesting on its own merits, even if I personally don't agree with every choice.

That said, I feel I have to circle back on the mysterious "they" that made any writing decisions here. It was probably Warren Ellis, right? Like, the only reason we got a franchise that gave whole episodes over to a secondary antagonist in a Castlevania PS2 spin-off is because Warren Ellis liked the guy, right? All the "weird" choices here could be explained by "Warren Ellis told Netflix he knew what he was doing, and was given carte blanche". And I hate that! I loved infamous graphic novel Transmetropolitan when I was in my early 20's, but to "learn" that the writer of that is a misogynist and misanthrope is about as surprising as learning that Kevin Smith finds dicks to be amusing. It's all right there in the text and the Frank Miller-esque need to make every third female character a literal prostitute. And it genuinely creeps me out that I am simultaneously saying "I very much enjoy the authorial vision of this series" and "the author of this content is a monster". But that's what happening! I just kind of hope that there were other voices that led to some of my favorite bits of that franchise (and I maintain that holy destruction Sypha must have been maintained by a different author... or at least someone on the animation team that took the script saying "Sypha fights the demons" to whole new levels). It bothers me that I feel this vision of Castlevania that I like literally never would have happened if Ellis wasn't tossing his weight around, and he only got that "weight" by being generally heinous. Not certain how I can reconcile that on a personal level.

Anywho, that said, a few spoiler-y bits:

I love Dracula's arc. There was a lot made of the difference in the various "ruling classes" in the early bits of Castlevania (how "the Church" is its own wealthy body, or how Trevor was essentially nobility before falling to his current state with peasantry), and a big chunk of Dracula's whole thing was that he not only had obvious wealth (see castle), but also knowledge far beyond humanity, and privileges like a castle that works essentially like modern day air travel. Drac has it all, and he's still not happy because the humans did a silly little thing like kill his wife. But his ultimate journey sees him happy only after he has dropped everything: his castle, his child, even his own name. He only has stolen clothes to his name! But he's content, because he's with his wife. I mean, he's still theoretically immortal, and has been granted a second chance mostly because Death liked his (old) style, but it's a cute little ending for "why" Drac might take a few generations off. Also: I would watch a series that is Dracula: Undying Wife Guy.

Additionally, any story with a critical number of vampires is eventually going to have "day walker" armor. I have grown very used to this meaning you are going to see a vampire in a goofy spacesuit looking thing, or a magical cloak/trinket that is just like "yeah this stops the sun, whatever". I was not prepared for how inordinately cool the "Nightmare" armor would appear in this series. It only is there for one scene, and the whole thing is pretty much just pointless violence (and that is arguably the point itself), but damn did that whole setup look cool.

And, as others have mentioned: Gergoth. Gergoth definitely supports my theory that someone looked at the whole of Castlevania, and decided to incorporate only the most interesting bits. Give me more Gergoth!

Oh, and I was genuinely surprised that Trevor survived. I was very prepared for a "bad end", complete with the obvious foreshadowing all over the place that Trevor was making a point to keep the Belmont line going before the final battle. Of course, given everything they established elsewhere in the series regarding "modern" sanitation, he probably should die of his wounds in like three days...

And the whole Greta/Grant thing? Further proof to that theory (I think I saw on the boards here) that this is the "real", complicated story of Trevor Belmont's time dealing with Dracula, and Castlevania 3 NES is the child story's version of it. Greta was totally a Grant that could crawl over walls and throw daggers. "He" was a pirate. Right. Now go to sleep.


Okay, that's it. Castlevania has a better authorial vision than most franchises I'm aware of, left alone one based on a videogame from the 80s. Just wish it was a different author...
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I reconciled my love of the show and my dislike of Ellis by telling myself that there were a lot of people involved and Ellis probably just had his name slapped all over it, like Tim Burton and Nightmare Before Christmas
 

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
That doesn't seem like a tenable read to me. I stopped watching after the first season because it embodied so much of the Ellis writing voice from the start, and I had no interest in seeing them flail around for something better that would never come. Nothing I've heard or seen since has suggested a significant creative shift tonally or stylistically; I am not hooked on its own by the knowledge that someone on staff played some of the games and retained impressions of some of their characters and concepts.
 
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