What Are You Watching?

[gunswordfist]

I watched the episode "Slam Dunk" from Regular Show for the 2nd time a few days ago. Dear God do I love that episode. It was like watching NBA Jam have a hilarious cartoon. Definitely one of my top 5 RS episodes.

[gunswordfist]

Today I decided to pick a series to start and eventually finish out of Justice League, Batman The Brave And Bold, Young Justice and Wolverine And The X-Men and I picked Batman The Brave And The Bold! Even though I did like the show, I felt like I didn't appreciate it enough after hearing Spark and ek's comments on the show. Episode 1 actually made me consider not liking the show at all because of BB's totally dude or whatever you call it talk. But after BB and his friend got done fangirling over the live Batman and Green Arrow vs. The Clock King fight, it wasn't bad at all. Speaking of BB, after learning that Will Friedle is the voice of Blue Bettle, I'll definitely be paying more attention to Blue Bettle and him being mentored by Batman. This should be a good marathon.

[Spark Of Spirit]

TBATB is just awesome. Bader is one of my favorite Batman voices in how Silver Age his seriousness is and how hilarious his comedy delivery is.

[gunswordfist]

Yeah, gotta love D. Bader's Batman voice.

[gunswordfist]

Since I refuse to go back in the Avatar thread due to lter-in-the-season spoilers, I'll talk about the first two episodes of season 2 of Korra here.

I was pretty disappointed. They crammed in a lot of bad attempts at comedy. Korra literally learned nothing from Tenzin. She still does that stupid airbending punching and she probably learned the airscooter from his kids. And yet again, she completely stops being his student to go off and do something else which she'll probably fail at and end up going back to Tenzin.

The dark spirits look great (and the show's animation looks noticably better) but they seem to much like generic anime creatures and I like ATLA's animal/insect spirits much more. The 3 animal/insects Aang faced had much more interesting motives than acting bad just because they were corrupted. The panda spirit rampaged because his forest was destroyed just like some of the dark spirits BUT he could be reasoned with and had a mind of his own. The dark spirits, as far as I can tell, are mindless and can't be reasoned with. Oh and there's Koh and the owl snake spirit. Both stood out to me because they are pretty much neutral. Having spirits being called straight up dark (even though Uncle tried to say otherwise but I see no reason to think differently) bugs me.

Speaking of Uncle whatshisface, that spirit dance he did seems like something straight out of another show. Also, they hinted at him being a Sozin/Amon/Ozai at the end of episode 2. Sozin/Amon because he might be trying to change a nation that isn't his by force to make it fit his vision and Ozai-like because he's a younger brother that became his nation's leader instead of his older brother and goes on to become a jackass. Excuse me if this is not the case, I skipped next week's episode's preview on purpose to be able to come in blind (and please don't tell me anything about it) so I don't want to be corrected except from watching the show itself. Also, Uncle seems to mean well so that makes him more in line with Amon. That wouldn't be so bad but that would mean history would repeat itself within the same year which is stupid...

I bet ShadowGentleman is raging now since Korra's father is no longer a normal parent. lol While I would have preferred that and them creating controversy in his past seems forced, I didn't find it to be all that bad (at least his part in it, see dark spirit rant above)

Anyway, I was hoping they were not setting up Asami and Bolin being a couple after they were showing them together because that'd be awful but after seeing how dull Korra's cousin is, Asalin is starting to look good.

Speaking of annoying relationships, Korra constantly snapping at Mako was the worst. He was just trying to give her moral support. Speaking of moral support, that's literally all everyone except Uncle can do since everyone, except Uncle cannot do anything to the spirits. Even then SHE NEVER LISTENS TO ANYONE, except, again, the uncle. Sheesh...

Lastly, I've been skipping commercials and all trailers on this season on purpose but I did see some of the promo that came on at the start of the show because I started watching 2 min. late and was wondering what the heck was going on and if they were actually just going to show previews for an hour lol I first saw the dark spirits there (Ugh) but more importantly, Korra reading some phoenix looking spirit and they showed the first Avatar. That really caught my interest. I'd literally have nothing to currently look forward to
this season if it weren't for that. I want to find out for myself if there's more to look forward to. I wouldn't mind seeing something like Koh returning or Uncle Iroh's trip to spirit world detailed.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I bet ShadowGentleman is raging now since Korra's father is no longer a normal parent. lol While I would have preferred that and them creating controversy in his past seems forced, I didn't find it to be all that bad (at least his part in it, see dark spirit rant above)

I'm still trying to figure out why he thought it was necessary to wipe out an entire sacred forest to capture a dozen raiders.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Maybe because they were hiding in it or something? It wasn't like it was a huge forest or anything like that, and obviously he didn't know or believe that spirits resided there and would get revenge on him for destroying it.

[gunswordfist]

It was a 'double edge' moment. He destroyed the forest in the process because he wanted the barbarians taken down asap but he didn't actually plan on causing that much damage. That flashback was supposed to show that he was just like Korra; impulsive and overly destructive while trying to do the right thing. Which is exactly why he has been so protective of her.

[Mr. Big]

Not "watching", but more of "reading". Just saw this blog post by 89-year old animator Gene Deitch. People here may recognize him for those "Tom and Jerry" cartoons he did, which effectively proves the point he's trying to make in the post.

I remember being immersed with his ebook, "How to Succeed in Animation", when I was in middle school. It was my first exposure to the harsh realities that goes on in the animation industry. I even got to meet him few years ago, which was a wonderful day for me.

I'm helping him somewhat right now. I own a bunch of those Terrytoons cartoons in CinemaScope 16mm. Turns out Gene doesn't have any widescreen copies, so he asked if I can get the films transferred to digital (with him covering the cost). I agreed and am currently in the process of doing that.

[gunswordfist]

Today I got up to the Journey into Batman (I think that's the episode title) BTBATB episode. I am impressed at how the show hits its stride at the getgo.

I watch Korra Season 2 episode 3 yesterday. It really caught my attention but unfortunately I expect them to have the civil war lead to some event that pisses off the spirits and then they go to war with the spirits blah blah blah instead of them continuing to explore the themes of neutrality and the gray zone.

[gunswordfist]

Ugh at the latest episode of Korra.

Ok, things were getting interesting. Korra threatening to kill the judge shocked. When she attacked the judge's car, I was like, "Ugh Korra IS Azula" with how she tries to get everything she wants with her power. I got over my frustration with her ignoring someone's good advice AGAIN and thought it was interesting that she'd go that far...but then the judge said her uncle rigged the trial and setup her father. So that means uncle is a jackass that mirrors Ozai and Amon. He probably still means well and wants to help the tribes but he's done too many inexcusable things, seems more like the same old same old (See: Amon, See: Ozai)...and I am pretty sure he was trying to kill Korra...hmmm, yeah he said he didn't need her anymore. He wanted her dead, oh and now that part reminds me of how Tarlokk treated Korra...

After all that, I am still very interested in seeing where the show goes. I just felt like the last episode missed out on greatness.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm not hearing a whole lot of positive comments about the season so far. Most are still willing to give it a chance, but not online or in real life am I hearing much of anyone really enjoying what's going on in the show.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I'm willing to stick with it, but I'm really liking where it's going. Korra in particular seems to be getting worse.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm not hearing a whole lot of positive comments about the season so far. Most are still willing to give it a chance, but not online or in real life am I hearing much of anyone really enjoying what's going on in the show.

I've been hearing mixed things, myself. Some people don't like it, others find plenty of positive elements in it (Doug Walker's V-logs do a good job of pointing out both).

I feel like there are good parts to this series that a lot of people are downright ignoring. For instance, I loved Tenzin's segments in this episode, and how he was able to relate to his daughter in how they both had trouble getting along with their siblings. The humor in this episode was also spot on for the first time in a long while (something that this series was seriously lacking in, before).

I don't get why everyone is so hung up on Unalaq being a bad guy when everyone already saw it coming to begin with. We already established since the premiere that he would be a bad guy, so why do people still act pissed off in a surprised way that they actually went that route when it was obvious to begin with? Was everyone expecting a plot twist there, after all? I'm not saying that I like it any better, but its a flaw that I can get over. In that regard, GSF mentioned that Unalaq is no different from previous Avatar villains, including Ozai, but there's the thing everyone seems to keep ignoring. Avatar's villains were always pretty shallow and cliche. That's not excusing this season from doing that, but I wish people would stop acting like any of the previous seasons of Avatar were any better in this regard.

As it stands, I find this season to be entertaining so far, but ultimately pretty average in its sorry telling and characterization. Compared to the best that Avatar has had to offer, I can see why it would disappoint some people, but I suppose I just like to focus on what I actually like more than fixate on the things that I don't. Is this season great, so far? Not really. Is it decent material, at least? I think so. Is it piss awful? I guess some people might feel that way, but personally I just don't view it like that.

Also, as far as the story goes, I at least like how it's moving beyond just the Civil War of the Water Tribe and is bringing the United Republic into the mix. I'm not seeing anyone mentioning anything about that when they talk about the story in this episode, which surprises me, because I'd think that's kind of a big deal.

[Avaitor]

One thing's for sure- the ratings have been down this season.

The show probably shouldn't be on Friday nights, though.