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wlwsuperheroine · 7 months

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I just finished ms. marvel the show for the first time. so short answer is: wowwww but long answer is: it has some positives and negatives.

Let’s start with negatives.

Changing Kamala’s powers. I know kamala isn’t as popular as some long time heroes but embegging is her whole gimmick! It’s like if someone took Peter Parker and gave him the powers of a snail and was called snail-man. And her powers are so cool too. I was so excited to see CGI stretching and polymorphic powers, you can do the hands part via literally iPhone camera, how could the whole marvel budget didn’t cut it?? No we got to have… light, for some reason. I’m just scared that other adaptation are going to do the same like in some new comics or games or something, I really, really hope not

Misrepresentation. This one is debatable, because as Muslim, the bar we have for American shows to represent us isn’t even on the floor, it’s lower, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn’t 100% mess it up. But still there are so many minor technicalities, that might seem minor for someone outside of the religion/culture but for those are part of it, it’s a really big deal. Like some scenes, doing wudu with nail polish on, posting in the masjid, a dad telling his son to stop praying, so many words used in the wrong context, the whole djinn concept just shows that there was no Muslim opinion taken into consideration during filming.

the so many love interests. Like, 3, seriously, one wasn’t enough?? There shouldn’t even be one, but I digress. And just all the scenes involving the romantic subtext of each one literally made my blood boil. Literally this whole point could summarised to just the boys, they were so unnecessary.

And now let’s get to the positives, because despite the points made previously, I really enjoyed this show.

The representation. As I said before, it’s perfect, but it’s not bad. Then again, the only thing we share is us being Muslim. I’m Arab where kamala is Pakistani and these things heavily affect how people practice Islam, and also I live in a Muslim, Arab country where almost everyone is Muslim where kamala live the US, a place where she’s a minority. So of course there will be differences between our experiences. But I love how many arabic phrases were spoken during the show, the Eid scene, the masjid scene, the whole wedding episode. It was all so good and nice and representative.

My favourite thing about the show honestly is how artistic and stylised it is. They weren’t very consistent with it, but it was still good. All the different fonts and styles for the ms marvel intro was so amazing, I want to screenshot every frame. The credits are so well done too. When they want to show how daydreamy kamala is and there’s doodles around and different pieces of media incorporated in that. It was all so creative. The intro captain america scene was one of my top 5, to be honest

I love the costume design, especially kamala’s. They were all so modest, obviously. But they also showed Kamala’s personality, through her drawing and patches and just the colours and everything. They were so many stars and bolts, It’s just so similar to how I dress.

The progression of her relationship with her mom. I genuinely think that there’s no greater or stronger or closer bond between two people in this whole wide world than between a mother and her eldest daughter, and this show is only one of the many many examples of that. And it’s so relatable and realistic, like her mom being overprotective and hovering because that’s the result of generational trauma and how her mom was too distant, and she was just doing her best and just wants the best for her daughter and Kamala is such a sweet girl. So many of their scene together made my heart melt.

Centralising not just family, but the matriarchs in the family was such a smart move. because mothers truly are the ones who make families and heritage and everything is always tied back to them. Something something the souls of mothers residing in their daughters. The whole partition train episode had me bawling my eyes out.

The rest is just some things I love about kamala generally in every adaptation/timeline/universe

I just really love how unapologetically nerdy and dorky kamala is. She’s such a fangirl, she loves comics and superheros (usually women) and of course captain marvel. And she engages in that, she draws and make projects and her whole room is decorated in what interests like her. I just really love people like that, both fictional and in real life. (I may be projecting but I feel like it’s giving adhd, like it’s giving hyperfixation.)

Showing the brown girl experience of idolising older white women and wishing that we could do everything they do, but still believing that we can’t because of a variety of reasons but then overcoming that and doing the things you wanna do your way anyway

Just how good kamala is. She’s so polite but still speaks her mind respectfully. She helps people all the time even when she doesn’t have to. she’s always so nice and sympathetic to everyone. And even though she can become a giant, that is her greatest strength because people always want to repay her goodness and they always want to help her back. And it’s just so heartwarming.

#ms marvel #ms. marvel #ms marvel series #ms marvel tv #kamala khan #mcu #marvel #captain marvel #ms marvel 2022 #review

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agentem · 10 months

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State of the MCU

There's a lot of thinkpieces and YouTube videos about how the MCU is "over" or "damaged goods" after Secret Invasion.

Obviously they are trying to distract us from this talk by dropping the Loki (one of the good MCU shows) trailer today.

I think there are several different lessons to be learned by some of the failures or missteps of this period of "too much Marvel."

They went from doing three movies a year, to doing, well, a lot more content. I don't actually think that Marvel is "running out" of content. There are so many characters and storylines that have not even been touched on.

But I think Marvel got a bit excited about what it could do, without thinking about the hows of actually making the content. For example, during She-Hulk we heard from VFX artists that were overworked and underpaid that there just weren't enough hours in the day for them to make all these shows and movies. Clearly, someone at the top did not take that into consideration when greenlighting all the shows.

I think the disconnect between WandaVison and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed limitations in the production schedules of the various properties. The time making a show is different from making a movie. And it led to some disconnect between where the audience was and where the narrative was going.

I also think a lot of things were greenlit as a good idea without them being fully fleshed out. Secret Invasion is probably one of them. I hear Echo is another. (Feige called it "unreleaseable" which makes me wonder how bad it was, since he clearly thought Secret Invasion WAS releasable.)

Hopefully in the future they will settle into some kind of release schedule (for example it was a big deal when Marvel went from two movies a year to three and then they really seemed to have three a year down in the 2018 period). I don't know exactly how many shows they can add to that.

In 2021, we got four live action shows and 1 animated show. In 2022 we had three live action shows. And we are supposed to get three in 2023.

For the shows, I think maybe two a year is a good amount, to give the writers (Pay your writers, Disney!) and the entire team enough time to work (pay for VFX artists too!). And if you can produce two quality TV series that work as TV series, then maybe they could try for three.

I'm a bit nervous about next year because three are scheduled but one is Daredevil which is supposed to be a lot more episodes than the shows the MCU has done. Though he needs less CGI than other heroes, maybe it could work?

Though these things will all probably get pushed back due to the strikes going on now.

I also think there should be a reason that something is a TV show and not a movie. I don't like this talk of "six hour movies." That's not a thing. The format changes the experience. WandaVision and She-Hulk utilized the TV format as part of the narrative. And that's a great reason for it to be a show. But it's not the only one. (Moon Knight had a unique structure, where it was divided into two episodes in London, two episodes in Cairo, and two episodes in the Underworld. That was cool, but I would argue then it should've been released two at a time instead of week-to-week. And on Friday. I hate this Wednesday nonsense.)

I think about this shit too much.

#marvel #mcu #marvel television #wandavision #secret invasion #she-hulk #moon knight #echo #daredevil: born again #kevin feige

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roaaoife · 3 months

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Avatar: The Last Airbender Netflix Live Action Episode 1 Review

So, going in, I made it a goal to have an open mind. This is an adaptation, not a remake. There are different constraints and considerations when changing the medium like this. (For example, in the One Piece Live Action they removed the typical anime cartoonishness from the violence because in Live Action punching your friend in the head just comes across as abuse, not a gag.) There's also pacing changes from fewer but longer episodes to ensure the story is cohesive. Having watched the first episode, I am getting a feel for the kinds of changes that have been made and I understand and appreciate the creative choices involved.

Spoiler Free- What I liked and Didn't like

Liked: The Bending

The way bending is depicted beautifully merges with martial arts choreography, so that bending is an extension of the martial arts. It feels very much like old school wire fu in the best way. In fact, the first 15-20 minutes has very strong Hong Kong cinema vibes, and I really enjoy that.

Liked: The characters

While there are some changes (necessary for the medium, in my opinion), the core of the characters still comes through. Aang is very clearly a sweet kid with too much responsibility, and the adaptation does a great job of conveying the inherent unfairness of putting all this on a kid. Zuko accurately conveys anger, hope, desperation, and arrogance with good facial expressions. Sokka is sarcastic, an over-protective big brother, and clearly struggling under the weight of his own responsibilities in protecting the tribe. Katara is brave and kind, and she struggles but still refuses to give up and is very focused on doing the right thing. (She is very clearly someone who will later say she won't ever turn her back on people who need her.) Iroh hasn't had a lot of screen time yet, but his two main interactions with Zuko and Aang show someone who is wise and compassionate. He's more direct in this adaptation and less cryptic, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Liked: The world building

I think the thing I appreciate the most is that the adaptation doesn't rely on you having watched the original to understand what is going on. This is a common trap that many adaptations fall into, creating a disjointed narrative, but here they have taken the time to establish the world, the stakes, and the chief players, and while there is some necessary exposition, for a lot of it they do a good job of following Show Don't Tell. Also, the sets are beautiful.

Disliked: CGI

While the fight and bending choreography look great, and Appa is adorable, there are moments where they over-rely on CGI, especially when depicting the Avatar State, that leads to some Uncanny Valley moments. I wish they had used more practical effects.

Dislike: GranGran

Probably the weakest performance comes from the woman playing GranGran. I'm sure she's a lovely person, but her delivery was flat and wooden.

Spoilers: What I liked and Didn't Like

Liked: The Air Nomads

Opening with the events of the Comet and the Air Nomad Genocide was perhaps the biggest change from the original. (RIP Random Earth Bender guy- you were a real one.) We're shown Aang's relationship with his people, especially Gyatso, and then we're actually shown the Fire Nation attack on the Air Nomads. We see the horrors of what is happening (and get a pretty potent reminder of why incendiary weapons are a war crime) and this very effectively gives an emotional weight to this war while clearly establishing the stakes. Again, this is very different from the original, which was a children's cartoon and therefore danced around the horror of war (for a very good reason.)

Liked: Aang and Katara friendship

Another big change- they scrapped Aang's early one-sided crush in favor of building a friendship based on mutual understanding and support. The door is still open to develop it into a romance, but by giving it this base I feel it will be more earned. I also think that given the constraints including the crush would have been an unnecessary distraction to the Very Important Events going on.

Mixed: Aang didn't runaway

Well, not really. Instead he goes on a flight to clear his head because he is (very understandably) feeling overwhelmed. He very clearly intends it to be a short flight. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Running Away is Aang's chief character flaw in the original. On the other hand, I have always been annoyed that this flaw is never really dealt with in a meaningful way. The deus ex machina at the end of series that let's Aang keep running away without consequence instead of forcing him to overcome it, allowing him to hold to his No Murder stance without any struggle is probably the point I criticize the most in the original series. I would have preferred if they had kept that flaw and actually dealt with it, but if there was one thing they cut I'm not exactly mad it was this.

On the whole, it's not perfect, but I am enjoying it a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing these characters and story develop in new ways.

#avatar the last airbender #netflix #atla live action #spoilers

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surpriserose · 1 year

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okay heres the ramble and its about the last of us the game and show and also tlou2 and video game violence because its fucking...gamer time and im just putting a cut because this will probably get long and also like...spoilers

okay so i just finished the latest episode of the last of us and jesus fucking christ just in general but also like...tlou game mutuals was joel always this...like...brutal/slash does he like...feel this brutal? because holy shit?

like obviously im still sympathetic to the guy like thats kind of the point is that yeah ellie sees the best of him despite him having a very checkered past and in a way so does the player because like....you are him you know? like i wouldnt be surprised if they like? upped the violence joel has on screen considering how the last of us 2 like....goes? like joel faces consequences for killing a guy the player and him didn't even really acknowledge as a person? because he was just a nameless enemy right? like i think that was the case but um...ive never played the games i just kinda watched on the sidelines until the show came out. sorry for being the exact demographic hbo is going for btw abvlnajkds

but anyways i think that idea that like the protagonist facing consequences for killing what the player ultimately just considers waves of enemies is interesting even if you're like okay well joel shouldnt have died and i think its something more games should acknowledge because like? depending on the game you can kill upwards of thousands (if you want a scale from like...harvest moon to plague inc i guess you can even kill billions you know?) and they just become not even people just obstacles because thats mechanically what they are.

like part of my criticism with stuff like...dc and marvel movies is how video gamey they are? and i say that every time because there are just waves and waves of faceless aliens/robots/whatever with just one big bad guy who actually gets a name and some kind of like...consideration of what it means to be killing them. and i mean like literally faceless a lot of the time. Like its an easy way to depersonalize someone you know? like look at this shit

aquaman ^^^ like bro can you even see....they took away your humanity and also your field of vision

age of ultron ^^^ like bro you are surrounded by fucking corpses...i know theyre robots and also all cgi but you know what i mean?

dragon age 2 ^^^

breath of the wild ^^^ which i guess i would say is kind of notable because you actually see the yiga without masks but not when youre fighting them

and this shit is specifically for more human kinds of enemies like specifically so you feel less bad killing them you know? non human enemies dont really get the same treatment because just by being non human you feel less bad about it you know? like orcs, goblins, supermutants, zombies whatever you can think of theyre already fine to kill because theyre non human and assumed to be evil (like think the dnd alignments kind of shit, where humans and elves can be good or evil or whatever but ALL orcs are always evil)

and like yeah...they arent human but theyre still sentient? like supermutants and ghouls in fallout form their own societies and you can have them as companions but that doesnt stop you from mowing them down in droves.

and zombies are kind of like? the ideal of this, especially tlou's zombies sorry i mean theyre clickers but theyre zombies you know what i mean

like they were people they were alive but now theyre okay to kill and are barely even human (including the lace of faces)

like thats why zombies kind of became so ubiquitous in video games i think like theyre perfect for enemies (literally mindless, not human, inherently evil) but also since they were human its easy enough to pluck out one to care about out of the thousands you can kill to feel bad about like i dont know if anyone cares about telltales the walking dead anymore but thats got a prime example they give you a starving kid zombie and of course youre gonna feel bad about killing them but not the rest of the horde.

^^^this is world war z im not trying to be misleading but you understand right? the zombies here arent even formerly human at this point theyre just a mass.

and yeah obviously none of this shit is real its all cgi and pixels and shit but that doesnt mean it cant affect you? that you shouldnt think about it? but its so frustrating to me like thats why one of the examples i gave was dragon age 2 and not just because ive been playing it like so so many of the enemies in that game are faceless smugglers/mercenaries/gang members but you as the player character are ALSO a former smuggler/mercenary who just joined to support your family but you cant give the same consideration to any of the enemies EXCEPT a kid roped into it to feed his family and you can only do that in one optional quest like...how can we be sure none of these enemies dont have stories like that?

well i mean obviously we can because they arent programmed to unlike plot relevant characters but thats kind of my point, the violence becomes so abstracted until they want to judge the important characters for being murderers or being murdered and only a few get to be important.

idk i mean what kind of brought this up for me was a scene in the episode i just finished. like i ask if joel was that brutal because he literally tortured a guy and as a viewer that was really effective for me? like these guys werent innocent but neither is joel what gives either of them to do this to each other you know? and i feel if that scene was in the game i would have heard about that?

i say that because like does anyone remember the controversy over gta5 having a very violent (and i believe interactive?) torture scene that was very similar to this scene. and people were pissed a scene like that was in a game because it wasnt the abstract violence people are used to in games with those faceless enemies you dont care about stopping you on the way to your next quest it was some guy who was up close and personal and suffering because of you as the player doing this to him this wasnt a funny corpse ragdolling when you hit them with your car this was a person the game wanted you to think of as a person for once and that was what made people uncomfortable

#hi hello is this thing on #anyways pretty good episode it really got to me

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fersrsbizniz · 2 years

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The next episode is called “Double Jeopardy”.

I remember nothing but I see Blackarachnia and I’m all in. She was one of my favorites, too, and I can’t wait to see why and how she will be a favorite again!

*Note: this was in my drafts for a minute, but since the new news is out regarding the movie, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to continue on. I’m having fun at least.

Opening song, guitar riffs, sound effects, etc…

They’re cold 🥶 and something about that is adorable and I don’t know why. I mean, it makes sense. Their insides are machinery that can very much freeze up, but it’s just…awwww, they’re cold!

I’m also thinking about how harsh I’ve been regarding the Maximals (and here I thought I’d been going easy). I rewatched a few episodes before touching on this one (yeah yeah, I just started and have two more seasons after this one, but it’s the principle of the thing) and they are just some serious newbies, aren’t they? Like they have “training” because their world (that to be fair I know absolutely nothing about other than it is robot planet off in the distant ether that is no time or budget to touch on right now) seems like it needs at least some for whatever reason, precaution? idk, but these are just some space nerds with only a few of them having any sort of combat experience and a batch of half-formed Maximals in stasis pods who had the misfortune of just being those unlucky bitches to come across the ship everyone is losing it about.

No wonder it’s a shitshow out there in battles. Honestly, Optimus, I should buy you a drink or something. I’m sure being commander of what might have been some maybe minor scuffles running into jackass supreme really made you want to renegotiate your contract at some point. If you could, that is.

And now it makes sense as to why they have little “teenage” Cheetor over there. Or however old he is supposed to be.

Tbh, makes me more critical of Megatron, though. Clearly, you can plan things and past performance has been a little embarrassing for you. I don’t want you to win, but come on, you’ve got the upper hand in a lot of this.

Okay, back to the episode…

And here we see a good application of that Predacon upper hand.

“Our strategic disadvantage is considerable”

“Work with it!” *promptly gets shot in the back*

I’m dying with that timing.

Omfg, I had to rewatch but Dinobot fell as if he got hit before he got hit with anything. Oh good old cgi…

Now the race continues with Optimus and Waspinator, while Dinobot gets a good shot in.

Yeah, no. Like I know they lose it, but it really was clear from the start they weren’t going to save this one. While Optimus and Dinobot are possibly the two most prepared for such a fight, there’s too many shenanigans (and they already got Tigatron) going on.

OH WAIT! Is this the one where they find out the place is…?

Oh it IS. I DO remember some of this.

Lol, Cheetor’s “Well, I never” hand gesture when Optimus plays at not trusting Rattrap.

I think that this is a pretty good example of how Optimus has some special bonds with everyone, and how some of it is off screen growth. Being able to pull this off with Rattrap means he could trust him not to just lose it by putting on a show, and be savvy enough to pull off looking like he is angry while still getting things done. In turn Rattrap is actually participating in something he very much would not have been inclined to do in the first few episodes, when he flat out would disrespect Optimus’ orders. Now look at him, getting ready to go into the enemy’s lair. Well, territory, but the lair is going to have info they need.

I know I’m also going to be reacting to this now with a better memory, and knowing the end game, but I do want everyone to know as a child I was SCANDALIZED at Rattrap’s mid-episode choice.

“Everything we could desire”???? Well, just telegraph what you wanted there, buddy. I’m so glad she has a mind of her own because, like, for real, Tarantulas is striking me a blend of “mad scientist” (something I’m all for mind you) and a variant of a certain type of individual who would perhaps use a jar and collectible figure in a very non-wholesome way. Which is concerning.

Really, though, she is pretty awesome. Dunno if you needed the chest area to be so pronounced, but hey, she looks cool as a whole, so that’s my complaint for the day. Let’s just watch her…do whatever that was. Checking out her abilities? Being a little weirdo? Idk but she did that.

Megatron may be calling him thirsty here but there are also a lot of other things he could be saying with that. I’m going to keep with my interpretation. Tarantulas is not being subtle in the slightest.

Ouch…low blow Rhinox. Dinobot might not be right but he was trying to help…in his destructive-no chill way. At any rate, I love the whole drama in this scene.

Terrorsaur being full of himself and easy to manipulate, as per usual

Hahahahaha…yeah he wanted someone pretty to look at. Was that why I didn’t like him? No, probably something more substantial. I feel you on that sigh though Blackarachnia

On the Maximal side of things, They’re talking about getting Rattrap, while I’m here nursing a budding feeling for a certain pair up. During a basic perusal I found some fandom shipping material—as one inevitably does—and admit that a particular ship that I never would have thought too hard about is growing on me like ivy…or perhaps more like a burr throwing flower. Is there much to go on here? Of course not. But Dinobot agreeing with Optimus, and the growing respect he has for him IS growing the interest necessary to delve further.

Oh I’m in the toils that is a fixation. I feel it.

In other news Dinobot is saying Rattrap needs to be brought to justice which is just so…Maximal of him if it weren’t a blatant suggestion to have him killed after he’s been interrogated.

See Megatron, these are the smarts I expect from you. Is it really your ego holding you down that badly? The answer is yes. Yeeeeesss.

There’s not too much to say about this other than this is the episode when I was younger that solidified my like for Rattrap (once I realized what was going on), and it is once again confirming that he is just a bad ass and I love it. He’s the reason that they are able to stop the whole internal spying thing, and does it with the style of my favorite class in any rpg.

And he even has a wrist blade. That’s cool and you all know it.

AND he shoots Tarantulas before he becomes a bigger issue. Smart. Sure it’s more of a knock out than anything lethal, but it’s the thought that counts.

Here comes the big fight, and I will say, I feel highly energized by it. Also, count me as torn between amused and logistically concerned about Rattrap being accurate when hitting Optimus. Guy had his reasons—but it could have screwed them over.

Cue the moment where Blackarachnia was almost unfazed by being shot multiple times, and Cheetor actually hit her a few times, again not lethally.

Huh, that makes me wonder…who is the most accurate shot in this show as a whole?

Then cue Dinobot head butting Terrorsaur (who I stg just said “oh no”), Megatron’s ultimatum, and Rattrap showing his true Maximal colors.

Cool move Rattrap, cool moves Dinobot. Like no joke, in that short amount of time they both did more damage than in half of a regular old shoot out.

And yaaay handshakes and jokes!!!

Be honest, though, Rattrap. You hit him a little on purpose (I don’t want to take away my previous praise for your aiming abilities so I’m just going to go with that).

And with that the episode is over. That was fun!

Also, Blackarachnia just like, fucks off and I love the audacity of it. Yeah, she’s a fave.

#beast wars #beast wars rewatch

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socialwicked · 2 years

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‘Rogue One’ Original Review: Star Wars Thrills, But Still a Footnote

Again in 2016, Lucasfilm launched the 1st Star Wars film that wasn’t component of the Skywalker saga — Rogue A person: A Star Wars Story. A person of the movies stars, Diego Luna, is about to get his have display in Andor, streaming on Disney Additionally from Sep. 21. So Disney is re-releasing Rogue One particular in IMAX theaters on Aug. 26, with a sneak peek at Andor footage. To rejoice, this is our first review of Rogue A single from 2016.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi brought Luke Skywalker to a place termed Mos Eisley a long time back in a galaxy considerably, considerably away, he explained, “You are going to never discover a much more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

But Rogue 1: A Star Wars Story finds a number of. And though the heroes of the first Star Wars hopped in the Millennium Falcon to leave the wretched scum driving and blast off into galaxy-spanning space opera experience, there is normally some thing of the avenue about Rogue Just one.

Rogue One particular is the to start with spin-off from the key Star Wars saga. It expands the tale beyond the epic films we’ve observed so far, revealing what it can be like to stay in the Star Wars universe when your identify is not Skywalker.

Technically, it really is a prequel — slotting into the saga in the wind-up to the 1977 primary and hence stuffed with references for lovers to get pleasure from. But from barren labor camps to occupied desert cities to slight armed service outposts, the emphasis stays on bit-section players who push the action when the significant names are off addressing galactic federal government, wooing royalty and practising their lightsaber swing.

Felicity Jones prospects the ensemble solid as Jyn Erso, a petty felony drawn into the Rise up in opposition to the evil Galactic Empire. She’s surrounded by a dust-streaked crew of small-time rogues and renegades performed by Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed , Jiang Wen and Mads Mikkelsen. Amid them, Donnie Yen is the stand-out as a blind monk who’s a dab hand at roughing up Stormtroopers even without having a lightsaber.

Regardless of becoming a concoction of motion capture and CGI, Alan Tudyk’s droid K-2SO is a single of the most lifelike of the people. Which is a compliment to his hilarious effectiveness, but it also reveals how the relaxation of the proficient forged is remaining brief-transformed by the script. The film sets up a assortment of interesting figures — Whitaker’s extremist rebel, for example, or Ahmed’s guilt-ridden Imperial pilot — but won’t entirely commit to its intriguing thoughts.

Diego Luna, in specific, fails to influence as an icy assassin, but that could also be for the reason that his soulful eyes are just soooo dreamy.

And as exciting as the individual figures are, they don’t spark the type of chemistry that among Rey, Finn and Poe carried us by means of the significantly sillier Pressure Awakens .

On the opposite aspect of the Force is the sneering Director Krennic, played with pantomime relish by Ben Mendelsohn. Like the heroes, Krennic is definitely a small character in the Star Wars saga, a footnote in galactic heritage. He is a petty bureaucrat, an bold opportunist blindly serving men who take gain of his shorter-sighted moi to exhibit what evil genuinely is.

The shadow of the Dim Facet looms over the movie with appearances from acquainted villains, but Rogue 1 is in quite a few approaches a glance at the banality of evil, of the workaday compromise and minimal-degree corruption that retains the cogs of galactic tyranny grinding.

Speaking of villains, Rogue 1 repeats a mistake of final year’s The Power Awakens, leaning a minor much too difficult on CGI to deliver just one of the main villains to lifestyle.

Fortunately, Rogue 1 avoids the tacked-on ending of Force Awakens and it’s in the closing third that the new spin-off bursts into daily life like a Star Destroyer exploding into flaming carnage. The ending fight sees director Gareth Edwards diving headfirst into the Star Wars toy box, pitting lumbering walkers and swooping X-wings versus every single other in no-expense-spared battle. And you will find a climactic sequence that may be one of the finest moments in any of the Star Wars movies.

Faithfully brushing up towards the Star Wars saga, Rogue A single nevertheless can take us places in the universe we have never ever found in advance of. It might not have the joyous spark of experience as the classic films, but it is really nonetheless a thrilling glimpse into the street life of a galaxy considerably, significantly absent.

Now playing: Watch this: ‘Rogue One’ review: Street-level Star Wars

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https://socialwicked.com/rogue-one-original-review-star-wars-thrills-but-still-a-footnote/

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macphersondayholdt · 2 years

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Where To Find The Finest video production company

Choosing The Best video production company For Your Project

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For more info make sure you click on this link Atlanta video production.

#(digital marketing agency|digital marketing company|digital marketing services)

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elencelebrindal · 4 years

Note

Who's the strongest and the weakest Bronze Saint in your opinion? I saw your post about the Golds and was wondering if you ever did something similar for them.

The strongest?

Short answer:

Long answer:

Shun is, in my opinion, the strongest of them all. Yes, even stronger than Ikki. I see countless people saying that Shun is weak and/or useless just because he doesn’t want to fight or because he calls Ikki for help, and I have one thing to say about that: kindness does not equal weakness. Shun is not weak, he refuses to fight unless he has to. The most blatant example I can give you of his strength is the fight against Aphrodite, the only battle Shun actively wanted to fight. You can see how dangerous he can be, when he’s willing to put aside his non-belligerent attitude. Shun is merciful, he doesn’t want to resolve everything with violence. This doesn’t mean he’s not one of the deadliest fighters out there, if not the deadliest, given his ability.

Let’s NOT forget Shun was able to hold his ground against Saga, who is said to be one of the most powerful Saints of his generation. He went as far as striking Saga in the Pope’s chamber, he managed to reach him with not that much effort. This is something people often gloss over, but it’s one of the greatest examples out there of Shun’s incredible power. To fight him, Seiya needed all the help he could get from his companions. Shun, instead, fought by himself, didn’t die or get lost in the Another Dimension, and was able to get his chains near Saga without him being unable to stop the boy.

Most importantly, Shun is depicted as “weak” only in works not written by Kurumada. Non-canon episodes are the only ones in which Shun is not capable of keeping up with the other Saints. This is obviously proof of him being weakened by outside people, and not of him being weak by default.

Another point in his favor it’s the Seventh Sense: he awakened it during the Sanctuary batte, right? Well, wrong. According to his teacher, Shun reached the Seventh Sense way before that. Or at least, the potential of the Seventh Sense. Shun cannot be considered weak, and shouldn’t be considered weak, because he’s definitely not. Now, as for why I think he’s more powerful than Ikki, to me it’s obvious that he’s stronger than him. Maybe not physically, in fact I don’t think there’s anyone in the Bronzes that physically stronger than Ikki (no, not even Shiryu), but as far as his cosmo goes... Ikki has the advantage of not dying, Phoenix and whatnot, but Shun has a more powerful cosmo. You can easily see this by taking into consideration the Nebula Storm, a technique so powerful that, if not controlled, reaches a point when it’s impossible to be stopped. This is incredibly destructive, extremely lethal, and Shun uses it without his Cloth. This is something similar to what Shiryu does, because they both can access their full cosmo without wearing a Cloth, but Shun has a clear advantage: he doesn’t have a weak spot. Where Shiryu could be easily killed if hit in the right place, Shun doesn’t have that weakness. Which, at least in my opinion, makes him better than Shiryu.

The last example I want to give you is the immense plot twist of him being Hades’ host. Not necessarily the fact that he can withstand the soul of a god binding with his own, but the fact that he was able to get the upper hand against Hades. If Shun was really as weak as a lot of people want to believe, than explain to me how in the everloving Hell did Shun managed to take back control over his body, keep a hold of Hades to give his brother an opportunity, and accept that he needed to die in order to get rid of the deity. He didn’t last long, sure, but he was fighting Hades. Not only that, but not long after being freed from Hades, Shun took back his Cloth, donned it, and fought again like he wasn’t just possessed by a deity. He managed to burn his cosmo enough to “unlock” the Divine Cloth despite having endured Hades’ control over his body and soul. To this day, I’m still annoyed at how easily Hypnos defeated him, taking into account what happened just a few moment before.

This might not be enough to convince other people of Shun’s true potential, but it’s enough for me to believe he’s absolutely the strongest Bronze Saint, and maybe even one of the strongest Saints in general. Don’t forget that this young man right here can wear the Virgo Cloth. He is the next Virgo Saint, and that’s a given for me. And you know how unbelievably powerful a Saint with that constellation normally is.

The weakest?

Short answer:

Long answer:

Seiya is... not as powerful as his protagonist status wants us to believe. I’m not doubting his abilities, because he is a Saint after all and he is skilled, but he’s by far the weakest as far as cosmo and physical strength go. Most of his exploits are made because of his “immense determination” and “good heart”. It’s almost never a believable (believable in Saint Seiya) reason that leads him to victory. He’s not necessarily weak, because he’s not, but he’s the least powerful of all the main Bronze Saints. Obviously he’s better than the secondary ones, because plot and everything, but he’s not on the same level as his companions. Most of his victories were attained because he had help, either from Athena or from his fellow Bronzes. Like I said before, Seiya couldn’t face Saga on his own. He needed the help of four other Saints in order to be on his level. I will be fair, and say that he was able to endure a lot on his own, but what he by himself still wasn’t enough to win.

He had his fair share of deserved victories, of course, but some of those were so heavily helped by other people’s intervention it doesn’t even feel like Seiya actually did something on his own. I’m not counting in this the fights he won fair and square, like the one against Aldebaran (sure, he had his annoying moment of “let’s daydream”, but he did win by himself), or the one against Thor. Hell, I’m perfectly okay with him winning against Thanatos. But there’s countless other moments in which he needed someone’s help or something to his advantage. For example, the first fight against Shiryu: Seiya won because he was able to spot and hit Shiryu’s weak spot, but he was being devastated before that. Even after tricking Shiryu in shattering his own shield (brilliant move, Marin taught him well), Seiya didn’t have the upper hand. Against Ikki, Seiya needed the help from all his companions to actually defeat him. When he reached the stairs leading to the Pope’s chamber, Seiya got easily overwhelmed by Aphrodite’s roses, while Marin (who gave him her mask) didn’t suffer as much from that poison. Against Saga, Seiya was able to use his protagonist bullshit to win because “a Saint fight with his heart!”, but when being faced with the real fight he needed some help. I’m not saying Seiya didn’t have the potential to resist Saga’s technique, like Ikki did when facing Shaka, but it was used in such a way it didn’t look like something coming from his own strength.

This happens way more in the series, from classic to Hades, and in the movies as well. Seiya is celebrated as this powerful Saint capable of defeating even the gods, but in reality he mostly relied on someone else’s help to achieve victory.

Physically, it’s painfully obvious that he’s not strong. He is as strong as a normal Saint would be, but not more than the average warrior. He easily prevails only on opponents that are visibly weaker than him, like Cassios (who didn’t have the slightest trace of cosmo), and has a hard time against opponents that are on his level. It also took a long time for him to understand how to fight Aiolia, but he only managed a couple good hits before being overwhelmed again. He has it even worse in the CGI movie, where Aiolia literally brushes off his attacks like they’re nothing.

Some might argue that his cosmo his not that weak, because he’s able to wear not only a Gold Cloth, but a Divine Cloth as well. And I say to you: I’m not saying he’s that weak. What I’m saying is: Seiya has potential, but not as much as we’re led to believe. Seiya heavily relies on the Gold Cloth when he wears it, instead of relying more on his own cosmo. He does the same with the Divine Cloth.

Compared to his companions, Seiya is relatively weak. Where Hyoga managed to become more powerful than his own teacher (a Gold Saint) and learned both of his techniques, Seiya relied on the Cloth itself to help him with his cosmo. Where Shiryu is able to fight effortlessly without wearing his Cloth, Seiya seems to be unable to do anything if he’s not wearing it. Where Ikki seems to have mastered his cosmo, Seiya still doesn’t know how to fully use it.

He always needs protection, he needs Athena to use her cosmo for him or to reassure him, he always ends up being the only one last standing because other people put their lives on the line for him. The Hades arc is what described him best: a kid that doesn’t know how to face people bigger than him. Even the fight against Valentine wasn’t his own victory, because Athena helped him from afar. It’s so easy to defeat him, like we saw when Rhadamanthys effortlessly got rid of Seiya. Which, in retrospect, completely erased what Seiya managed to do when fighting him for the first time.

I’m aware I’m known for my... well, not hate but strong dislike for Seiya. I won’t blame you if you think I put him so low because I’m biased. But this is my opinion for that, and I’m keeping it.

#saint seiya #i cavalieri dello zodiaco #los caballeros del zodiaco #os cavaleiros do zodiaco #pegasus seiya #andromeda shun

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goatjuice0 · 3 years

Text

the-art-of-selling-a-spectrum-game

The Art of Selling a Spectrum Game Let's face it, graphics were not the selling point of a ZX Spectrum game. It wasn't often someone would pick up a cassette box and shout out "WOW, look at the graphics on this game!!" - Spectrum gamers knew what kind of graphics they were probably going to get even before flipping to the back of the box. What made it worse was that a lot of the times on the back of a box the publishers had provided screenshots of not only the Spectrum version, but alongside them screenshots from the rival Commodore 64 version, and even the Atari ST and Amiga versions which were streets ahead with graphics capabilities. Some cassette inlay's took it a step further with a complete disregard for false advertising as they showed screenshots from a completely different system (one of the ones with the much better graphics) and decided not to show any Speccy screenshots at all! Admittedly, there were times I would look at these comparison screenshots and think "Why can't my game look like *that*". I'd still buy the game anyway, because I knew what to expect and of course I could always use my imagination to make the game better. No matter what version of screenshots I was shown, I had a feeling of what was going to be fun. But what made the Spectrum owner pick up the box in the first place? In a time without YouTube or the internet, and television advertising for games was unheard of; it was the cover art that had to grab your attention. Yes there were Spectrum magazines filled with screenshots and reviews but when you turned the page to reveal a full page colour advert for a game, it was dominated by incredible game cover art, and only a few small screenshots of the game (if any at all) usually subtly placed at the bottom with the other unimportant stuff.

When I'm talking cover art, this was not computer designed 3D CGI at the standard seen these days; these were beautifully drawn or hand painted - this was real talent, and time and effort spent - nothing computer aided or digital. In some cases you could see the felt tip pen strokes, brush marks or pencil lines. This was real art. Walking in to a computer shop and looking across the shelves at a sea of cassette boxes, each one with their own cartoon cover, painted hero scenes, or movie poster style art - you knew you were in for a treat, even if the treat was the time you spent in the shop looking at them. There were titles you had never heard of, title's that didn't even show a single screenshot on the back of the box! But this added a mystique to the choice of this week's game purchase. Even without screenshots, the cover art told you it was worth taking the gamble as you stared at the picture on the front of the box on your bus journey home (..sometimes the gamble didn't always pay off, though.) These sometimes breathtaking illustrations would pull you in, and they tempted you. Like the art on the cover of a book, you wanted to open the pages and dive in to the story to be the character emblazoned on the front; the cover set the tone for the incredible adventure you were about to embark on... which of course ended up being a number of basic looking pixelated shapes awkwardly moving around a screen to the soundtrack of a few bleeps and white noise, but that's not the point. http://buythegadgets.com/ Today graphic artists could simply take a frame from the photo-real texture mapped game sprite and place them in any position or pose, and that alone would be enough to sell the game. However, in the days of the Spectrum, in it's place would stand an actor in action poses dressed up in full costume as characters from the game! I, of course, refer to the very memorable cover of "Barbarian". It gave it an extra dimension of realism to the point of sale rarely seen today - oh, and boobs. Protesters focused so much on the risqué (although not by today's standards) cover art, that nobody pointed out that in the game you chop peoples head's clean off with a sword, for it to be then kicked across the screen! To be fair, the type of person to make complaints about a girl wearing a bikini on the front of a computer game box, probably didn't know how to load the game up in order to be outraged by the beheading. Grand gestures and attention grabbers were needed in the early days of computing, of course this was mostly to counter the incredibly unrealistic game and sometimes pitiful gameplay of a title - usually the movie-licenced ones, to be fair. If a movie was a big hit, any kind of game of any standard would do - sometimes with no actual relevance to the plot of the movie, and forget screenshots - not needed! â¨Get the license to publish a game of the worldwide epic movie "Jaws", put the famous Shark on the front emerging up toward the swimming girl; then it's going to shift a considerable amount of units. Oh wait, what about the game? OK just swap the X's and O's for Shark Fin's and Girls Face's in a game of sharky Tic-Tac-Toe - that should do it! (That wasn't the game version of Jaws, by the way, I just made that up for an extreme example - the actual game was *much* less relevant to the plot). The point being, as long as it had the big Hollywood cover art, then it was going to sell by the bucket load no matter what. Gamer's did feel let down however, and through the years would become wise and double check the screenshots and reviews of movie-licensed games, just to make sure they weren't being conned. There were good games, and bad games, correct screenshots, deceiving ones, and no screenshots at all; but one thing was certain when you purchased a Spectrum game - you were going to have a new experience (good or bad) that started the moment you set eyes on the cover art.

#game #online games #health #kesehatan #berita hari ini

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lowflavor1 · 3 years

Text

the-art-of-selling-a-spectrum-game

The Art of Selling a Spectrum Game http://cardiscovery.com/ Let's face it, graphics were not the selling point of a ZX Spectrum game. It wasn't often someone would pick up a cassette box and shout out "WOW, look at the graphics on this game!!" - Spectrum gamers knew what kind of graphics they were probably going to get even before flipping to the back of the box. What made it worse was that a lot of the times on the back of a box the publishers had provided screenshots of not only the Spectrum version, but alongside them screenshots from the rival Commodore 64 version, and even the Atari ST and Amiga versions which were streets ahead with graphics capabilities. Some cassette inlay's took it a step further with a complete disregard for false advertising as they showed screenshots from a completely different system (one of the ones with the much better graphics) and decided not to show any Speccy screenshots at all! Admittedly, there were times I would look at these comparison screenshots and think "Why can't my game look like *that*". I'd still buy the game anyway, because I knew what to expect and of course I could always use my imagination to make the game better. No matter what version of screenshots I was shown, I had a feeling of what was going to be fun. But what made the Spectrum owner pick up the box in the first place?

In a time without YouTube or the internet, and television advertising for games was unheard of; it was the cover art that had to grab your attention. Yes there were Spectrum magazines filled with screenshots and reviews but when you turned the page to reveal a full page colour advert for a game, it was dominated by incredible game cover art, and only a few small screenshots of the game (if any at all) usually subtly placed at the bottom with the other unimportant stuff. When I'm talking cover art, this was not computer designed 3D CGI at the standard seen these days; these were beautifully drawn or hand painted - this was real talent, and time and effort spent - nothing computer aided or digital. In some cases you could see the felt tip pen strokes, brush marks or pencil lines. This was real art. Walking in to a computer shop and looking across the shelves at a sea of cassette boxes, each one with their own cartoon cover, painted hero scenes, or movie poster style art - you knew you were in for a treat, even if the treat was the time you spent in the shop looking at them. There were titles you had never heard of, title's that didn't even show a single screenshot on the back of the box! But this added a mystique to the choice of this week's game purchase. Even without screenshots, the cover art told you it was worth taking the gamble as you stared at the picture on the front of the box on your bus journey home (..sometimes the gamble didn't always pay off, though.) These sometimes breathtaking illustrations would pull you in, and they tempted you. Like the art on the cover of a book, you wanted to open the pages and dive in to the story to be the character emblazoned on the front; the cover set the tone for the incredible adventure you were about to embark on... which of course ended up being a number of basic looking pixelated shapes awkwardly moving around a screen to the soundtrack of a few bleeps and white noise, but that's not the point. Today graphic artists could simply take a frame from the photo-real texture mapped game sprite and place them in any position or pose, and that alone would be enough to sell the game. However, in the days of the Spectrum, in it's place would stand an actor in action poses dressed up in full costume as characters from the game! I, of course, refer to the very memorable cover of "Barbarian". It gave it an extra dimension of realism to the point of sale rarely seen today - oh, and boobs. Protesters focused so much on the risqué (although not by today's standards) cover art, that nobody pointed out that in the game you chop peoples head's clean off with a sword, for it to be then kicked across the screen! To be fair, the type of person to make complaints about a girl wearing a bikini on the front of a computer game box, probably didn't know how to load the game up in order to be outraged by the beheading. Grand gestures and attention grabbers were needed in the early days of computing, of course this was mostly to counter the incredibly unrealistic game and sometimes pitiful gameplay of a title - usually the movie-licenced ones, to be fair. If a movie was a big hit, any kind of game of any standard would do - sometimes with no actual relevance to the plot of the movie, and forget screenshots - not needed! â¨Get the license to publish a game of the worldwide epic movie "Jaws", put the famous Shark on the front emerging up toward the swimming girl; then it's going to shift a considerable amount of units. Oh wait, what about the game? OK just swap the X's and O's for Shark Fin's and Girls Face's in a game of sharky Tic-Tac-Toe - that should do it! (That wasn't the game version of Jaws, by the way, I just made that up for an extreme example - the actual game was *much* less relevant to the plot). The point being, as long as it had the big Hollywood cover art, then it was going to sell by the bucket load no matter what. Gamer's did feel let down however, and through the years would become wise and double check the screenshots and reviews of movie-licensed games, just to make sure they weren't being conned. There were good games, and bad games, correct screenshots, deceiving ones, and no screenshots at all; but one thing was certain when you purchased a Spectrum game - you were going to have a new experience (good or bad) that started the moment you set eyes on the cover art.

#game #online games #health #kesehatan #berita hari ini

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mappinglasirena · 4 years

Text

Mapping La Sirena

Welcome one and all to the Mapping La Sirena Project!

If you are a fan of Star Trek: Picard and you would like to know more about the show’s most prominent ship, to check out floor plans and screencaps, and to discuss theories about the layout of this magnificent vessel, this is will be the place for you!

(Long, slightly rambly introduction and masterpost after the cut ;] )

Hi! My name is Lili and I’ve been a fan of pretty much all things Star Trek ever since I started watching Voyager at the tender age of 6. Besides the sometimes goofy, often brilliant storytelling and the wonderful characters, I always loved the worldbuilding of these shows - and in particularly the starships.

When Star Trek: Picard started airing a few months ago, I was immediately drawn to the main ship, La Sirena. The mixture of the monumental physical set, judiciously used CGI, and sheer attention to detail made me fall madly in love with this little mermaid, and I wanted to find out every little thing about her that I possibly could. And since I imagine, I’m not the only one who feels this way, I decided to take you all on this journey with me!

What am I doing here?

As a reader and writer of fanfic, I know how helpful it can be to have a clear sense of the location your story is set in. When I realized that a good month after the final episode of ST:PIC season one aired, there still was no floor plan of La Sirena easily found on the web (easily = using my very limited googling-skills), I figured somebody had to sit down and do it. And apparently, that somebody was me. (May the gods help us all =D)

So, I sat myself down, and over the course of a few long days screencapped every single last scrap of Sirena that appears on the show. I now have a library of reference images and will post my progress as I work through them, trying to determine questions about the general layout of this ship, the details of its architecture and furnishings and all the questions that still remain. By the end of it, I am pretty confident that I will have a mostly accurate floorplan of the set that was used on the show (at least the parts of it that were shown to us thus far). We might even end up with the basis for a plan of the ship as it would exist in-universe (more on the movie set vs. “real place” issue later).

The following soon-to-be-links might give you an idea of what I plan to post over the next few months and I’ll keep adding links to this post as I go. So, without (even more) ado: Have fun exploring La Sirena!

Schematics & Floor Plans

A very crude first sketch

Official Set plan

We finally have an official set plan from the Ready Room!

A First Deeper Look at the Ready Room set plans

Centred Floor Plans from Set Me Up + cross section & more designs

Layout of the Captain’s Quarters

Shape and size

How large is La Sirena as seen on the show and is she larger on the inside?

Upper Deck

The Bridge

Where is the Holodeck?

Picard’s Study

Transporter Pad and Engine

The Trouble with Locating the Quarters/Conference Room

Crew Quarters

Captain’s Quarters

A closer Look at the windows

Conference room

The Mysterious Back End of the Ship

Crates, Tanks, Boxes, and Miscellania

Lower Deck

The Mess

Sickbay: Pt. 1: Size and Construction; Pt. 2: Furniture

So Many Nets

The Wall Problem, aka. Mysterious Nonexistent Corridors

Cargo Bay and other Speculative Spaces

Is there a dedicated cargo bay at the back of the ship?

Where are the rest of the crew quarters hidden?

Overall Design and Technological Aspects

A quick rundown of the Engine placement and history

Some Considerations

Tv Set vs . Starship

The set of La Sirena is just that, a tv set. When building a set, there are many constraints of time, budget, and practicality that will force the creatives to make decisions that will not always make sense when mapped onto a “real” starship. Take, for example, the fact that the Captain’s Quarters and the Conference Room were likely filmed in the same physical set, just redressed for the occasion.

Of course, there can always be Watsonian explanations for these kinds of incongruities and I’d love to hear people’s takes or read fics about them (after all, the entirety of La Sirena is apparently equipped with holoemitters, so I suppose technically, anything is possible).

But I am sticking with the Doylian “it’s a movie set” approach and will generally ignore these kinds of problems when trying to draft an in-universe-accurate floorplan of what we can know of the ship so far. I will be very diligent about pointing out whenever I handwave anything, though, so if you want to stick as closely to what we actually see on the whoe, you’ll know which parts of my analysis/headcanon to disregard ;)

Questions about “silly little details”

I have spend a ridiculous amount of time on this little project so far and in the course of it have gotten pretty familiar with a lot of aspects of the interior and exterior of this amazing starship. If you have any questions regarding details about what we can see of La Sirena on the show, please ask me and I will do my best to help! I absolutely love digging into the really nitpicky, tiny little scraps of information, and at this point, I can probably tell you straight away which scene might provide the info you’re looking for or whether there likely is no answer and you’ll have to get creative. So if you don’t feel like scrubbing through the entire 10 episodes of Picard to find out, say, the colour of the plates produced by Sirena’s replicators, please shoot me an ask, I’m always utterly delighted to help! (They’re white, btw.)

And just to make clear what I mean by “tiny little details”: in the course of writing some of my stories, I have collected answers to such important questions as

On which side of the desk does Rios have his chair? (Both)

How many cups are on the shelf next to the replicators? (4, even when one of them is currently in use)

Could a football roll under the railing on the upper deck and fall down into the mess hall anywhere but where the stairs go down? (No, there is a raised edge all around the rim that would catch it. Bouncing would work, though, since the space between the railing bars is large enough.)

Could I just say “Fuck it, I’ll just write it however, because it really doesn’t matter at all?” Yes. Would it be better for my sanity? Probably. Will I still keep trying to figure out as much about this crazy little ship as I possibly can at every turn? You betcha! So, no question is too silly, please ask away!!

A Quick Thought on Fanfic and “Accuracy”

This whole project started because whenever I write fanfic or make up stories set on La Sirena, my brain keeps insisting that we need to know which side of the mess hall the replicators are on! We need to know where exactly the holodeck is located and whether a football could fall to the lower deck through the railing. I would never hold anyone to these standards of “accuracy” - in fact I frequently don’t hold myself to these standards. Fic is for creative expression, so if in your imagination, La Sirena is twice the size of what we see in the show and has a ton of additional rooms and features, I would love to read that story! I want to create a resource for anyone looking for Sirena references to get inspired, not to point out inconsistencies or canon-divergence in lovingly created fanworks. I hope it comes across that way =)

#star trek picard #la sirena #about the project #cristobal rios #aramis in space

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razberryyum · 5 years

Video

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 13, Part 2 of 2

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapters 52, 53 and 54]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

Continued from Part 1...

Xuanwu Cave Comparison

Between the novel, audio drama, donghua, and live action depictions of the Xuanwu cave event, there are marked differences that determine my preference for each version, so here’s how I would rank them (and this is only applicable to the Xuanwu cave adaptation):

novel > live action > audio drama > donghua

Since the novel is the og source, its depiction should naturally rank above all versions of MDZS, but if I’m going to be honest, I debated a bit whether the The Untamed’s adaptation should fall beneath it, or actually be equivalent to it. The primary reason for my momentary indecision is because the relationship dynamics between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan in the show were different going into the Xuanwu cave than how they were in the novel. Because they had gone through more experiences together—the Yin metal hunt and their defiance against Wen Chao, for example, which wasn’t in the novel of course—their interactions during this just this whole conversation scene in the cave is somehow warmer and more amicable. The difference is most noticeable with Wei Ying: in the novel he actually gets a little annoyed and then straight up angry with Lan Zhan, going so far as yelling at him and moving away from him. Even though it’s admittedly for a valid reason since Lan Zhan did bite him, the distance between their hearts felt farther apart. It did feel more like two people who didn’t like each other much, forced to work together. And since the audio drama follows the novel pretty closely for this event, the same sentiments applied there as well. But here in CQL, Wei Ying is mostly just teasing, considerate and sweet. He’s almost affectionate with Lan Zhan, like they’ve been friends for a while, which in Wei Ying’s mind they have been, so there’s no sense of animosity whatsoever. Wei Ying never stops to wonder if Lan Zhan actually hates him like he did in the book. Lan Zhan, in turn, was also generally more blatantly irritated with Wei Ying in the book, a fact that was clearly brought to life in the audio drama since he was rather short with him many times. Whereas here in the live action, while he’s exasperated with Wei Ying (because he’s being dense AF)…

...overall he’s more...soft? Like, even if we didn’t know he was in love with Wei Ying, or that Wei Ying thinks they’re good friends, there’s still no sense that they don’t get along at all.

Still, at the end of the day, because the novel is the well from which the Xuanwu cave event sprung forth, it has of course more precious and crucial elements that the show lacked, which helped finalize my decision on ranking the novel’s version of the Xuanwu cave above The Untamed instead of putting it on the same level. In addition to the previously mentioned piggyback ride, Lan Zhan making his permanent mark on Wei Ying by biting him and then breaking down over what befell his family and Cloud Recesses, were left out of the show as well. The stripping scene was also longer in the book, with Wei Ying straight out threatening to jump Lan Zhan’s bones while half-naked. Although a slight downer to that moment was how Wei Ying ended his prank: by assuring Lan Zhan he’s not into men. That one line actually still bothers me to this day because I can’t shake off its implications: basically, it’s really lucky for Lan Zhan that Wei Ying was revived in a gay man’s body. The thought of how their ending would have been otherwise makes my heart ache. For sure, I don’t think we would’ve gotten “everyday means everyday”. But that’s a longer and more involved discussion for another time. I’ll shelve it until we get to the episode later on when Team CQL changes Mo Xuanyu’s sexuality completely.

Back to the differences in the novel that was absent from CQL: Lan Zhan ended up wearing Wei Ying’s undergarments, and the satchel of medicine was from Mian Mian, not Wen Qing (who hadn’t even appeared yet in the story), which is important since later on when it’s revealed that Lan Zhan secretly pocketed that satchel and turned it into his coin purse because he’s such a sweet romantic. Of course the satchel never made an appearance against in The Untamed. Lastly, in the novel, Wei Ying ends up sleeping on Lan Zhan’s legs because Lan Zhan finally obliges his request after he passed out from the fever. The most we got in the show was them sleeping next to each other.

Aside from the differences in the degree of WangXian, there’s also general story differences as well: in the novel, Su She was the one who tried throwing Mian Mian to the Wens and pretty much got bitch slapped by Lan Zhan for it (in the show, it was just some random Jin disciple betraying his own kind). Su She also was the one that caused the Xuanwu’s blood lust to be riled up because he accidentally shot Wei Ying with an arrow while trying to make amends for his cowardice with Mian Mian. It’s actually a shame that Team CQL decided to leave Su She out of the Xuanwu proceedings entirely in the show because his inclusion would have made his hatred of Lan Zhan and his actions against Wei Ying make more sense. Petty jealousy and an overblown inferiority complex just seemed a bit of a reach in light of how much he despised Lan Zhan and the lengths he went through to essentially destroy Wei Ying. They really should have included Su She in the Xuanwu cave, was the actor not available, I wonder.

As for the audio drama, even though it follows the novel pretty closely and I absolutely love it and most of the performances by the voice actors—in particular our two leads, Lu Zhixing-laoshi as Wei Ying and Wei Chao-laoshi as Lan Zhan, who are absolutely beyond superb...seriously my knees turned to freaking jelly in some scenes because of them—not to mention, it is probably the most faithful adaptation of the novel we will EVER get, the reason I ranked it below The Untamed in terms of the Xuanwu cave events is because of the mere fact that some scenes just are better brought to life in a visual medium. That’s really it. Therefore, it’s not the fault of the audio drama, per se, but the nature of audio dramas that makes me prefer the live action’s depiction of the Xuanwu cave scenes over it.

As for the donghua, at least in terms of these particular sequence of events, I absolutely think it has to fall to last place because it omitted so much from the novel in terms of WangXian. Even though Wei Ying showed some upper body nudity for a brief moment and Lan Zhan rubbed medicine on his brand directly, they changed the disrobing to Wei Ying pulling on Lan Zhan’s head ribbon as the reason for Lan Zhan spitting up blood. He did smack Wei Ying for doing that, which I thought was cute and funny, but that’s still a far cry from what was supposed to be. Even the talk about Mian Mian was truncated and just didn’t have the same sentiments involved. Lan Zhan did get emotional over his family, but not to the degree that he did in the novel/audio drama. Also to be honest, most of the cave sequence in the donghua was just a little too dark. Like, I do appreciate the fact that they were trying to go for realism in a cave setting; I mean, at least they didn’t light up the cave at 9 pm (aka the time the Lans fall asleep like narcoleptic zombies...how do they even go on night hunts???) like it was Alaska during the summer:

But my poor eyes would have appreciated it even more if the donghua abandoned reality and simply lit up the surroundings more. They could have easily thrown in some glowing stalactites as the explanation for the unrealistic lighting. I was so happy whenever cultivation magic happened since those were the moments my eyes no longer had to strain.

Also, while the Xuanwu tortoise wasn’t much to write home about in The Untamed:

I did like the fact that I could see every CGI wrinkle on him. Actually, I’m being harsh, he really wasn’t too bad as CGI effects go in the show, and he’s definitely much better stationary than in action.

There was one thing that the donghua included that wasn’t in the novel, audio drama or the show, and that was Nie Huaisang. I actually don’t know why he was included...not that I’m complaining about it since I welcome more NHS in any version, but I thought that was a curious change and I would actually like to know the reason for why Team Donghua decided to add him in. Although, I can understand why The Untamed didn’t include him: first of all, he wasn’t meant to be there to begin with since he wasn’t in the novel but also perhaps they realized they didn’t need yet another damsel in distress who had to be constantly protected. One Mian Mian in the cave was enough.

With Apologies to Mian Mian

I know the Mian Mian in the cave was actually closer to the way she was portrayed in the novel, but I really didn’t like this version of Mian Mian since she isn’t the same one we’ve been living with in the show up until that point. In terms or The Untamed, the Mian Mian we know is much stronger, braver and smarter than that. I mean, this is the girl who diffused the tension between Wen Chao and Jin Zixuan at Qishan while casually side-stepping Wen Chao’s attempt at harassment at the same time. While I understand she was without her weapon in the cave and there had been no indication she was even that strong of a fighter to begin with, I’d still like to believe that had she been in character, she would’ve picked up one of the Wen’s swords and fought alongside everyone else against the Wen dogs. I don’t know why Team CQL decided to damsel her down in this instance, but I found it rather irritating. Her being the one to induce the Xuanwu’s bloodlust because she fucking tripped and hurt herself makes me cringe every single time I see this scene. That’s like a bimbo in a bad horror movie type of move and totally not worthy of the Mian Mian we’ve been blessed with up until then. This is the woman who will one day take off her sect robes and renounce her secthood in front of a roomful of sect leaders and her seniors due to her sense of righteousness, and then more than a decade later draw her sword to protect her family against two intruders hiding in her backyard....not to mention protect her husband and daughter against freaking ghost puppets while voluntarily going on night hunts. This Mian Mian isn’t one to cower behind anyone helplessly or carelessly tripping over her own feet, dammit. At least in the Xuanwu cave, Team CQL really did Mian Mian wrong.

Wei Wuxian is awesome

Again, a given as usual, but I still want to especially restate that fact because his recitation of the Wen Sect rules back to Wen Chao’s dumbass face is still one of my favorite Wei Ying moments. Not like I even have a non-favorite Wei Ying moment, but this definitely ranks at the top of the list. What made the moment even better was Wen Zhuliu’s reaction to Wen Chao’s ignorance.

I will never stop asking this: what the hell kind of debt does Wen Zhuliu owe Wen Ruohan that he would be willing to saddle himself with someone who is clearly very very much his intellectual and cultivational inferior? I know it’s a life debt, maybe his own life was saved, but that still hardly seems worth the trouble he has to put up with for all these years.

WangMian?? (j/k)

Even though Wei Ying was just teasing Lan Zhan about liking Mian Mian, I can kind of see why someone would mistakenly think Lan Zhan might have some interest in her based on this moment alone. The way the scene was constructed was rather interesting because of how Lan Zhan quickly rushes to Mian Mian’s side as soon as he notices she might be in danger. First time I watched this I thought, oh, he’s just doing that to block Wei Ying from getting into trouble and also to protect him from Wen Chao, but after reviewing the scene a few times since then, I realized his position isn’t quite right for that purpose. Or perhaps, Lan Zhan was protecting Mian Mian because in that instance she was someone who is weak and he was just acting on his principles. I can accept that explanation. After all, I don’t seriously think there was anything between Lan Zhan and Mian Mian, nor do I think Team CQL ever intended there to be, but that was still a rather motivationally vague way to execute that scene.

A Jealous Lan Zhan is Cute

I just love how over he is with Wei Ying flirting with Mian Mian. Lan Zhan was really chugging the vinegar there.

Wang Lingjiao is a Real Evil C-word

Speaking of people who downs vinegar like water, I have to take a moment to marvel at just how truly evil and petty a woman Wang Lingjiao is. The fact that in the middle of a highly dangerous, life or death battle with an ancient monster, she still found the time and mood to try to brand some poor girl her stupid sugar daddy showed just a teeny tiny bit of interest in is pretty astounding. She is really an unbelievably vile character. However, as much as I hate the character, and I will only hate her more in future episodes, I have nothing but praise for the casting choice for WLJ. Lu Enjie really nailed that role, not only in terms of performance but she had the perfect look and body language as well. And then, Qiu Qiu-laoshi’s voice acting made what was already perfect even more sublime. It was as if Wang Lingjiao literally stepped out of the pages of the novel and onto the screen.

Questions I Still Have

- Even now I actually don’t know how Wei Ying’s paperman trick works cuz there doesn’t seem to be much consistency in how it operates. Sometimes it seems like he’s just commanding it to do things, while other times he’s like putting his own consciousness in it. But even the degree of consciousness he is able to insert into the paperman seems to vary. What gives? And man, could Wei Ying have been more obvious with his little messenger in that moment?? That paperman flew to Wen Qing and clung to her in full view of everybody right behind her. Good thing the Wens obviously employ a bunch of blind dummies who are completely oblivious to their surroundings, otherwise both Wen Qing and Wei Ying would’ve been in deep shit.

- Did Wen Ruohan ever tell his son the game plan for keeping all the major sect’s kids? Cuz if the point was to hold the next generation of sect leaders hostage so that their parents won’t revolt against the Wens, KILLING them all in a cave is probably the LAST thing Daddy Wen would want Wen Chao to do. I mean, I would imagine nothing would incite a collective mutiny more than if everyone’s most precious heirs mysteriously died during a night hunt held by the Wens. Honestly, what the hell was Wen Chao thinking with that stunt? I guess the answer is he wasn’t thinking since he is kind of stupid, but then that begs the question why would Wen Ruohan let his idiot younger son be in charge of something so important in the first place? I wouldn’t trade the hostage situation in for anything since it did lead to important events in the story, but I guess I wish it wasn’t so flimsy-seeming in the logic department?

Overall Episode Rating: 9.5 Lil Apples out of 10

Disclaimer: The Untamed would not be possible without Mo Dao Zu Shi and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu-laoshi. I mean no disrespect whatsover when at times I may favor the shwo over the MDZS bible that is the novel. All hail MDZS and MXTX-laoshi, always and forever!

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cesare-and-raistlin · 5 years

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The Untamed/MDZS Spoiler Review

Book rating: 3.5/5 Drama rating: 8.5/10

This is going to be a comparative review of the novel and the live-action drama. I started with the drama, and watched about 25 episodes (all that were available at the time) before I started reading the book. I finished the book at around the time episode 38 came out.

So both my viewing and reading experiences were directly impacted by me consuming both versions at the same time, which is why I don’t think I can write a review that isn’t about comparing the two.

Overall, I’d say I like the drama better. The main actors’ performances, Xiao Zhan’s in particular, played a large role in that. But neither work was perfect, and each had their respective strong points.

First off, I think I have to make it clear that Wei Wuxian is my favourite character (which is good, since he’s the main character). This is important for this review, as I will take into great consideration how each version treated him, his story and his arc.

I usually separate my drama rating into two: I give a maximum of 5 points for objective quality and 5 points for personal appreciation. But I had to cheat here. The most The Untamed could have gotten with that system is a generous 7.5/10, and that feels somewhat wrong for a drama that made me feel so much.

The Untamed is probably the first longer Chinese drama that I watched where I never felt like there were too many episodes. Even The Rise of Phoenixes and Guardian, which I both love, had filler that could easily have been cut. But this drama was almost never boring and mostly stayed focused on the main characters, and with 50 episodes, that’s really impressive.

Dark Wuxian

The best thing about the novel for me was probably how delectably gruesome it was. The drama was only PG-13—and I’m being generous—, but the book was R-rated in every aspect. And while the sex scenes weren’t especially my thing (more on that later, unfortunately), the violence was unrestrained in the best possible way.

I love villains. I really do. And while Wuxian wasn’t exactly a villain, every single one of his villainous scenes was just marvellous. I think he has a body count of about 6,000 in this book. Six. Thousand. His Sunshot Campaign moments were some of my favourite, especially the scene where Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng finally find him after searching for him for three months. The way Wuxian dealt with Wen Chao was extremely gruesome (after all, he made him eat his own legs), but it was sooo satisfying.

(Please don’t come out of this review thinking that I’m a sadist. This kind of events in real life would absolutely horrify me. But this is fiction. And I enjoy my fiction best when it’s ruthless.)

Dark Wuxian, as I’ve been calling him, is definitely my favourite aspect of the book. We don’t get enough of him, but what we get is amazing. Wuxian is a morally gray character. On a D&D spectrum, over the course of this story, he goes from chaotic good to chaotic evil to chaotic neutral. He does good things, he does bad things, he does selfish things, he does selfless things. He’s a complex character.

But it seems that the drama decided that no, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t be a bad person. At all. The only really reprehensible thing we see him do (and even that is debatable) is killing a few dozen Wens and torturing Wen Chao (in a much less gory way than in the book, but I can live with that). From the moment after he comes back to Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, he is somewhat… muzzled. The book has him digging out corpses and using zombies to fight in the war, while the drama opted for the much less morally ambiguous “smoke ghosts” that aren’t ever really explained. There were no giggling zombie girls serving him tea either, which I also feel is a shame.

But, then again, I can live with that.

What annoyed me the most, and something for which I cannot forgive the drama, is the Nightless City battle. Forget how poorly executed the whole thing was—I’d given up on this drama’s technical quality long ago. I can accept bad CGI. I can accept incompetent editing. I can even accept odious music. What I will not accept, however, is Wuxian to be absolved of his every fault by making someone else the author of the massacre and the reason for Jiang Yanli’s death. The greatest thing about Wei Wuxian is that is he not blameless. But that’s what the drama made him, and I’m absolutely bitter about it. The drama’s Wuxian doesn’t lose control: control is taken away from him. He doesn’t pay the price for his overconfidence. Jin Zixuan dies at Qionqi Path, not because Wuxian’s instincts and PTSD get the better of him and make him lash out like a cornered dog, but because someone intervenes. His sister dies, but it’s not his fault. And this is really frustrating me.

The book asks this question: Can someone who does bad things be a good person?

But the drama doesn’t, because the drama doesn’t allow Wuxian to be bad.

Also, we’re supposed to accept that Su She was talented enough to overpower Wuxian at the technique that he himself invented? And without owning the Tiger Seal? You’re kidding me, right?

Storytelling and Authenticity

One of the major changes in adapting the novel to live action was the decision to spend 60% of the story in the past storyline, something the novel was very concise about. The events presented in both versions are generally the same, but the drama greatly expanded on the material that it had, and let me say, this was the best thing they could have done. Making most major characters meet at the Cloud Recesses? Genius move. The characters had time to build relationships, something they didn’t always have in the book. It was necessary, notably, to establish a connection between Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning and Wen Qing before the YunmengJiang massacre, so that the rescue wouldn’t come out of nowhere, something it kind of did in the novel. The relationship between the three Yunmeng siblings was explored in detail, making their later tragedy several times stronger and more painful. Though Wuxian stayed the main character the entire time, the drama also gave a POV to other characters, most notably to Lan Wangji, which was a great improvement to the book, where Wangji is a POV characters for maybe two scenes. While I’m never a fan of not having Wuxian’s prettiness on my screen, we do needed to see scenes like the attack on the Cloud Recesses or Wangji’s punishment with our own eyes. Getting these moments through exposition only would have made for weaker storytelling.

And weaker storytelling was what we unfortunately got with the novel. This is not the right story for a one protagonist only third person limited point of view. Especially when that one protagonist is dead for 13 years, 13 years during which many things happen. Wuxian gets reincarnated, and now needs to know what has been going on when he was dead. Being limited by the narrative style that she set herself, the author was forced to deliver the exposition in huge chunks through the Empathy spell, occupying several chapters each time and thoroughly boring me in the process. This could have been delivered organically with additional POV characters, but the book went the route of the exposition dump.

To be fair, similar exposition dumps are also there in the drama. But they do not feel as much out of place, as the drama made a point to show us scenes with and about the concerned characters beforehand, Jin Guangyao in particular. He was an already well-established character long before he became a major player in the story. Which certainly wasn’t the case in the book.

Something that is easier to do on screen than on paper is the everyday gestures of the characters. Things like Jiang Cheng rolling his eyes at everything that Wuxian does, Wuxian holding his flute Chenqing the same way one would do a sword, the Yunmeng bros playfully hitting each other at any given time, Wen Ning looking at everything with puppy eyes, the ducklings junior disciples using exaggerated fighting stances, Wuxian and Wangji’s eyes crossing every time one of them decides to do something.

You can, technically, put all of these, every instance, in a book. But by writing something, you draw attention to it. You not only make it important, you also make your main character notice it. Which is why writers don’t include every single move their characters make in their book, since most aren’t necessary to the story, would feel repetitive and would distract the reader, or would make the protagonist more observant than they should be. The beauty of film, however, is that you can include these details, as much as you want, without directly drawing the viewer’s attention to them. There are many ways to do this; wide or crowded shots are some examples. These seemingly unimportant details were extremely useful in accomplishing what seemed to be one of the drama’s main objectives: they made the whole thing feel sincere. Character quirks and background interactions work wonders at making you feel like the people on your screen are real and not just played by actors. The relationships between the characters felt so much more real and made me feel so many things that the book didn’t. While I wouldn’t go so far as saying that the book characters felt stale or artificial, the drama definitely added another layer of authenticity.

The drama was better at portraying Wuxian’s conflicted emotional state in the events from his return from the Burial Mounds to the Nightless City battle. Of course, it’s to be expected, as the drama spent way more time in the past storyline than the novel did. But by deciding to spend more time with the Jiang siblings, it was also able to depict the way Wuxian’s behaviour changed and how his new physical weakness affected him in a way that wasn’t present in the book. Wuxian doesn’t possess a golden core any longer, and he doesn’t want anyone to know about it. But there are things he cannot fake. Two scenes in particular come to mind. In the first, Wangji attacks Wuxian suddenly, and after barely blocking a few blows, a shocked Wuxian just closes his eyes and waits for the sword to kill him. He used to be one of the best swordsmen, but without any spiritual energy, he now knows that he cannot win a sword fight against Lan Wangji. So he closes his eyes and accepts his imminent death with a painful expression on his face. In the second scene, Wuxian tries to reconcile with Jiang Cheng after an argument, but his brother shoves him the second he touches him. Wuxian falls on the ground, and stays there. The look on his face is a combination of shock and hurt, as he comes to the realization that even playful fighting with his brother is now out of his grasp.

These scenes were a great addition by the drama. Not only did they succeed in adding tension to the characters’ relationships, they also successfully teased Wuxian’s lack of golden core. In the book, this reveal doesn’t entirely come out of nowhere, but you also really needed to pay attention to every detail to guess it. The drama plays a different game: while it is still perfectly possible for less attentive viewers to be surprised by the later reveal, the real emotional pull of the subplot has now become “When will the people who love Wuxian discover the sacrifices that he made?” The fact that the mystery is easier to guess for viewers simply manages to make them more invested in the eventual reveal and how it will affect the characters. And the reveal itself is… *kisses fingers* delicious.

Adaptations Are Hard

In adapting the book, the drama succeeded in many things, several of which I’ve already mentioned. But too many times to count, it also failed to stand on its own.

This isn’t a drama that was ever going to be 100% faithful to its source material. Because of China’s censorship laws, it had to change a lot of things to be able to air. Of course, the gay romance was turned into a bromance (although it didn’t dupe anybody). All the R-rated content was turned into PG-13 appropriate. Undead Wen Ning was made kind of alive in the drama (reminding me of how Chu Shuzhi was a zombie in the Guardian novel but a perfectly alive dude in the drama). Most walking corpses were replaced by black shadows, and were only used by villains. (China really doesn’t like undead characters, guys.) It has been brought to my attention that Wuxian’s toned down evilness may also be a result of adapting to censorship, and if that’s the case, it makes me both more annoyed and more understanding of what the drama did.

However.

When you change something from the source material, whatever the reason is, you have to think about what the implications of your changes are. Which the scriptwriters of The Untamed clearly didn’t.

“Wei Wuxian has been killing indiscriminately since the Sunshot Campaign!” No he hasn’t.

“I’ve fought 3,000 people before, I can take 3,000 of you now.” No you didn’t.

“Sect Leader Jiang, don’t forget that one of the main powers that surrounded the Burial Mounds was you.” That siege never even happened.

Over and over, the drama changes things from the book but doesn’t adapt its later scenes to fit those changes. This results in a succession of lines that feel out of place and incongruous.

In a similar way, they have Wuxian be reincarnated into his old body instead of into Mo Xuanyu’s body. And I get it. I understand why. Your lead actor may very well be the best thing about your show, and giving him up midway through would be a pain for several reasons. BUT. They kept the whole thing about people not being able to recognize Wuxian until the Koi Tower sequence when he unsheathes Suibian. Even though he has the same jaw, the same hair, the same clothes, the same voice, the same basically everything that he had before his death. I guess the drama realized that pushing this farce with Wangji wouldn’t work, so they dropped the whole series of scenes where Wuxian tries to make Wangji believe that he’s Mo Xuanyu. It still doesn’t redeem how senseless other scenes are. In the book, Jin Ling frees Wuxian after Jiang Cheng caught him because he genuinely thinks that Wuxian is Mo Xuanyu, whom he knows personally and probably doesn’t want to see get tortured. But in the drama, he frees Wuxian because…? Jiang Cheng has seen Wuxian’s face and has stated that it’s him, so Jin Ling shouldn’t have any reason to doubt his uncle.

It’s an adaptation. It’s alright to change things. But guys, the changes have to make sense!

Did anybody proofread the script? Nobody?

The Technical Stuff, or Me Shitting on This Drama for 700 Words Straight

If what you’re looking for is competent filmmaking, then I would suggest you look elsewhere.

But if you want an interesting story, sympathetic characters, poignant relationships, and themes of what is right and what is wrong and all the gray areas in between, then go ahead!

— Me, August 15

So.

This is not well-made television.

Like, at all.

Ok, so the costumes are pretty great. The different clans are easy to distinguish while never seeming cartoonish, the details of each garment are exquisite, and, let’s face it, Wuxian black robes simply stole the show. The weapons were really pretty. Some of the tracks from the soundtrack are actually quite nice. There are a few beautiful visuals. The main leads’ acting was good.

But I’m sorry, I have no more nice things to say.

The cinematographer obviously didn’t know how to frame a shot. Camera angles were often awkward or downright useless. The camera moved amateurishly, enough to bring the production values down by itself. Chinese drama reviewer Avenue X has dedicated a significant part of her Untamed review to the problems with this drama’s photography, and since she knows what she’s talking about way more than I do, I’ll leave a link to her video here: X

The editor didn’t know how to edit a scene. It was mostly apparent during fight scenes, with their weird cuts and incessant fading to black for no reason, although I don’t think that I could call any scene of this 50-episode drama “well edited.” Even my favourites. The best ones are just passable.

The editing and cinematography aren’t necessarily bad because of a lack of budget, which we know was a problem with this drama. You can make simple but great content with a small budget. No, they’re bad because the people responsible were not competent.

The two directors themselves don’t have the best track record. The Legends and The Plough Department of Song Dynasty are not well-made dramas in any way. Even Secrets of the Three Kingdoms, on which director Cheng Wai Man worked, was great because of its script and its characters but was brought down by its underwhelmingly average technical craftsmanship.

The sound mixer didn’t know how to juggle the diegetic music and the soundtrack. You know, when you have a main character who fights with a flute, maybe, just maybe, don’t use the tracks from the soundtracks that have flute in them in his scenes. There are many points during the drama where I could hear flute music but had no way of knowing whether that music was diegetic or not, if Wuxian was really playing or if it was part of the soundtrack. Wen Chao: “The flute! The flute! Is it the flute?” Wen Zhuliu: “It’s not. It’s the sound of the wind.” [Meanwhile in the background: flute music.] At this point of the story, Wen Chao is clearly deranged and Wen Zhuliu acts as the voice of reason. However, as the audience, we can hear the sound of a flute. Is it part of the soundtrack? Is Wen Zhuliu in denial or lying to Wen Chao? Is Wuxian playing for Wen Chao’s ears only? There was no need for this scene and others like it to be so confusing.

Most of the secondary actors didn’t know how to act. Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo were mostly great, particularly once they got used to each other better, and I can name a few actors whom I think did a really good job (Xuan Lu who played Jiang Yanli and Liu Haikuan who played Lan Xichen) but most others were passable at best and horrible at worst.

The VFX artists were just lost all the time. Though I will say that the black shadows created by Wuxian usually looked pretty cool. But they had neither the time nor budget to make this CGI-heavy show seem realistic in any way. Is this a surprise? No. I’m used to Chinese web-drama CGI by now. And I actually appreciate that The Untamed made some efforts to have practical effects when possible. They still looked bad (that giant dog was absolutely terrible), but they could have been so much worse if they had been computer animated. At least they tried.

We Need to Talk About Wangxian, I Guess

The drama’s version of Wangxian is amazing. It’s soft and romantic and heartfelt and authentic. And the fact that it’s technically supposed to be a bromance doesn’t take anything away from it. Nobody in their right mind watches this show and thinks, “They’re just friends.” Where Guardian still tried to (unsuccessfully) pass Weilan as bros, the people who made The Untamed were all *wink wink* with the entire relationship: having Wuxian and Wangji call each other “soulmates” and gaze at each other like the two idiots in love that they are, holding hands, being overprotective, and even including a damn montage of them falling in love. (How this drama still hasn’t been cancelled in China is an absolute mystery to me.)

Book Wangxian is… something else.

In the drama, Wuxian and Wangji become friends rather fast. And while Wuxian still has some moments when he believes that Wangji is there to put him down (“Lan Zhan, I’ve always known that we’d end up in a fight to the death”), he mostly understands that they’re friends. Book Wuxian, on the contrary, still believes that Wangji is out to get him well into the present storyline. And let me be clear: both versions work. They carry very different emotions, but they work. Until we get to the romance.

Because in the book, Wangxian kinds of happens out of nowhere.

In the novel, Wuxian suddenly goes from “Lan Wangji hates me and I need to get away from him” to “Is homosexuality contagious” to “I really wanted to sleep with you!” (in front of his damn nephew, may I add), and that’s fine, in theory. But the transitions in between those changes of heart aren’t really there. 99% of the story is told from Wuxian’s point of view, and I still came out of the book not really knowing why he likes Wangji. That’s kind of a problem.

And then there’s the sex scenes. Oh, the sex scenes.

It would be an exaggeration to say that they sex scenes of the book ruined Wangxian for me, but they certainly did nothing good for the ship in my heart.

It’s not really on brand of me to talk about these things in detail, so I’ll be brief: there is a consent issue with pretty much every single sex scene. In the very first, Wangji is inebriated and cannot consent. The very worst one, which is part of the extras, is clearly a rape. A dream rape, sure, but a rape nonetheless. And the book treats it like something, I don’t know, exciting? So yeah, after finishing the book, Wangxian was making me uncomfortable. The show’s absolute sweetness made it better, but I still have a sour taste in my mouth.

Conclusion

After this review, you may be thinking, “Wow, she really doesn’t like either the book or the drama that much.” But this is just harsh love. I have an eternal soft spot in my heart for this story. To quote my own tweets:

“I have to hit pause every 30 seconds because I love Wuxian so much my heart hurts.”

“it's so good

i wanna cry”

#the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #chen qing ling #lan wangji #that demonic fluffball

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