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Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
First up, here's the new trailer for season 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXg2_yExgVY

Now, some detail: Arrested Development is one of the most acclaimed comedy series of this century if not of all time and is responsible for launching the careers of many known comedy stars including Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Michael Cera, but it's had a weird and rough history. This can be divided into a few different sections...



AD's original run started out on FOX in 2003, the story of a wealthy family who lost everything and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. The Bluth family consisted of Michael (Jason Bateman), the "good" son, his siblings terrible magician Gob (Will Arnett), self-obsessed Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and babyish Buster (Tony Hale), brother-in-law Tobias Funke (David Cross) who definitely isn't gay, his awkward-nerd-recently-turned-overtly-sexual son George Michael (Michael Cera), Tobias and Lindsay's daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat), and his parents, criminal doofus George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) and conniving Lucille (Jessica Walters).

It quickly became one of the most acclaimed comedies on the air, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first year, as well as Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series two years running. Unfortunately, it suffered from low ratings and network fuckery such as timeslot changes and reduced episode orders after arcs had already been set in place. In the end it was cancelled after three progressively shorter seasons, with the final four airing alongside the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Good job FOX. These seasons are the "classic" episodes of the show that everyone mostly agrees are consistently incredible.

But acclaim and word of mouth kept growing, the DVD sales were good, and there was constant word of a revival in some way, most likely as a movie, as mentioned in the final moments of s3. It was over five years before any kind of announcement was made....



And then in 2011 Netflix announced they would be resurrecting Arrested Development for a fourth season, with all the original cast. The excitement was palpable, but a fair few people questioned how it would work when so many of the stars were far busier and more well-known than back in the mid-00s.

Two years later, these questions were answered: sorta....awkwardly? The season had a completely different structure to the previous three, with each episode following an individual member of the Bluth family on their own separate journey over a five-year period, only coming together towards the end. It's ambitious as heck, but was met with mixed reviews due to a variety of factors, from the structure leading to less interesting storylines being given too much weight for them to handle to too many references to the older show to people feeling that certain characters were portrayed differently. I personally love it to death but can see some of the issues, particularly when you get like a 40-minute episode devoted to Lindsay. The humour is darker but imo as funny as ever when you really get into it.

So the official word for years after that was "yeah we'd like to get everyone together again but we'll see" with the promise that it would feature more of the main cast actually interacting with each other. Sometime I think last year they confirmed that it was definitely happening, with Tony Hale posting a wrap party pic on Instagram back in November. Then, earlier this month, poo poo began to go down...



First up was the announcement of Fateful Consequences, a recut of season 4 which presented the season in mostly-chronological order and with episodes cutting between storylines, and which was first discussed way back in 2014. This came out on May 4, and again has had a mixed response. I personally think it fixes a lot of s4's existing issues but highlights or creates other problems. I hope one day I hear from someone who got to see this version first. This is probably what discussion is gonna be about for a bit.

Then, earlier today, the trailer and release date for season 5 were revealed! On May 29th we get a bunch of new episodes that promise to feature the nine cast members together prominently. There have also been reports that the season would heavily feature flashbacks to when George Sr. and Lucille were younger, as were in s4, but I never saw any kind of confirmation about this, so maybe it's bogus? I dunno. There are storylines involving Lindsay running for Congress, the Bluths giving themselves a "family of the year" award, and Tobias portraying Michael in something. Presumably it will also deal with the big fallout at the end of s4 where Lucille 2 is murdered.

We got 3 weeks or so until season 5 is out, so let's chat! What do you think of season 4, and/or the recut? Do you think having the cast together will be an improvement? Is there still money in the banana stand? Yes.

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Ingmar terdman
Jul 24, 2006

Thanks for the effort OP, I was hoping someone would do one soon.

At least on my netflix, the S4 remix has replaced the original S4, which is too bad, because S4 is really cool, and more people need to do a rewatch. It's a huge flawed experiment of necessity in a lot of ways and the greenscreening is terrible, but it's really unique and remarkable in a lot of ways.

But maybe the remix will become the one accepted and rewatched by the public. I'm three or four eps in and it's good. The biggest mistake of S4.0 was letting certain episodes go overlong and this seems to fix that. Ron Howard did a lot more new narration than I expected, and there have definitely been some gags and musical cues added.

ONE YEAR LATER
Apr 13, 2004

Fry old buddy, it's me, Bender!
Oven Wrangler
The original cut of season 4 is still on Netflix, it's just hidden away in the 'trailers and more' section.

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


Ingmar terdman posted:

Ron Howard did a lot more new narration than I expected, and there have definitely been some gags and musical cues added.
The best new joke is the explicit definition of "shoveling coal":


Also, Tobias is impersonating both Michael in that trailer, and Buster in the very end.

Firos
Apr 30, 2007

Staying abreast of the latest developments in jam communism



My favourite joke is the fact that the gap between s4 and s5 is almost as big as the gap between s3 and s4.




Wait that's not funny at all :smith:

suddenlyissoon
Feb 17, 2002

Don't be sad that I am gone.

Nichael posted:

The best new joke is the explicit definition of "shoveling coal":


Also, Tobias is impersonating both Michael in that trailer, and Buster in the very end.

I'm going to need a uncensored version of this letter because the internet fails me.

I'm really happy they put the remix out. I haven't rewatched season 4 in a while, but as far as I can remember this is MUCH more enjoyable than the old format.

Caros
May 14, 2008

suddenlyissoon posted:

I'm going to need a uncensored version of this letter because the internet fails me.

I'm really happy they put the remix out. I haven't rewatched season 4 in a while, but as far as I can remember this is MUCH more enjoyable than the old format.

I feel like the original format was better on the rewatch, because a lot of the good jokes rely on the fragmented nature of the story. Things like the roofie circle are a good example, or the favor swapping, but the best are things like hearing Maeby shriek in the background of several scenes, and not seeing the explanation for it until her episodes considerably later.

The Tobias/Lindsay go to India is another good example, come to think of it. It is still funny when you see them doing it side by side, but way funnier when each story plays out one after the other.

For a first watch, or for a rewatch before season 5, I'd definitely say this is superior.

Just please don't bring back DeBris unless it is to clown on Tobias, because I don't think I can take any more of that.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
The India scenes are definitely the #1 example of how the recut can improve things, in my opinion. Those few minutes actually felt like classic AD when edited together, to me anyways.

Emerson Cod
Apr 14, 2004

by Pragmatica
I hate how the beeped out Tobias’s gleeful bullshit when told that there was a raccoon outside.

Cockblocktopus
Apr 18, 2009

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.


Emerson Cod posted:

I hate how the beeped out Tobias’s gleeful bullshit when told that there was a raccoon outside.

Hurwitz mentioned that he hoped the recut would be syndicated one day so I'd imagine that's why.

Give me an uncensored "check your lease; you're living in gently caress CITY" gag, Netflix.

ghostwritingduck
Aug 26, 2004

"I hope you like waking up at 6 a.m. and having your favorite things destroyed. P.S. Forgive me because I'm cuter than that $50 wire I just ate."
I enjoyed the first attempt, but my wife who loved the series couldn’t get into the fourth season. This remix has completely fixed this, although the Michael going to college with his son is still painful.

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


I love how Buster's robot hand from season 4 has apparently lost all of its flesh.

clown shoes
Jul 17, 2004

Nothing but clowns down here.
I love season four and prefer the original to the remix but I did enjoy the remix even though it kills some of the long term joke payoffs, like the reveal that Fake Block is just a wood block. I also don't know why they changed or took out some jokes, like Siri calling G.O.B. "gob."

One thing I noticed this time around (my fourth time watching season four) is that there is more green screen than I think a lot of people realize. There's obviously some rather bad and obvious green screen, like Barry in the first episode, and some of the Lucille 2 stuff, but there's a whole lot that is done fairly well that it doesn't stand out unless you've got a keen eye
for that sort of thing. There is some really good green screen implementation going on. Every member of the Bluth family is green screened in the epic Cinco de Quatro event scenes. They shot all of the background Cinco events with all the extras and secondary characters (Lucille 2, Sally, Herbert Love, Debris etc.) and then green screened the Bluths into the scenes one at a time. It is really well done by green screen standards. In some cases they have foreground characters and props to hide it.

I'm pretty sure the scene of George Michael and Maebe in the Fake Block warehouse is also green screened but could use a second (or third) pair of eyes to check it out. Like they’re both riding the golf cart together but I think everything other than George Michael was shot separately. Watch the scene of them riding in the golf cart, it seems like they're both not there at the same time. It's actually quite impressive.

Also, the cast wants more money for the remix.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/arrested-development-pay-dispute-erupts-recut-episodes-1108966


clown shoes fucked around with this message at 03:25 on May 8, 2018

Chairman Capone
Dec 17, 2008

Emerson Cod posted:

I hate how the beeped out Tobias’s gleeful bullshit when told that there was a raccoon outside.

Tobias on To Entrap a Local Predator is one of my favorite scenes of the entire show, let alone season 4, and it's a crime the remix took out part of it (when John Beard asks him how old Maebe is) and obscures part of it (Ron Howard talking over part of the setup).

Vintersorg
Mar 3, 2004

President of
the Brendan Fraser
Fan Club



I hope Ron Howard speaks less this time - that was my biggest annoyance with S4. I get it was probably because the cast wasn't really there to riff so he filled in the blanks but it just made things miserable whenever he interrupted.

Heavy_D
Feb 16, 2002

"rararararara" contains the meaning of everything, kept in simple rectangular structures

Chairman Capone posted:

Tobias on To Entrap a Local Predator is one of my favorite scenes of the entire show, let alone season 4, and it's a crime the remix took out part of it (when John Beard asks him how old Maebe is)

I think that bit makes it into one of the final recaps of that bit in a much later remix episode, it wasn't completely gone, although it might lose its impact spread out like that. One place I thought a joke went missing was in the Tony Wonder/Sally Sitwell scene, the "destroy my life with GOB"/Sound of Silence bit. To me it might be the funniest line reading from Season 4, did I just miss it?

T.C.
Feb 10, 2004

Believe.
I feel like the remix is missing a certain amount of flow. The narration is filling in even more gaps than it was last time. It's a bunch if individual events chained together instead of a single narrative. Also, when you're watching it in a burst, the explanatory flashbacks are all an episode or two later instead of half a season later. So you end up watching the same thing repeatedly over a couple of episodes. The individual episodes don't necessarily have a proper story in them anymore either.

The chronology is also, somehow, harder to follow. Later episodes happen before earlier episodes, but without the fact that you're obviously following one character's story. It's still all out of order, but it's lost what was holding it together before.

The occasional splitscreening of parallel events really didn't work for me. They spoonfed stuff like that and had the narrator explaining them as they went. Things that were interesting before turned into 'tell instead of show' scenes.

I actually think the original edit is really good to watch on repeat.

On the other hand, the extra 'hello darkness my old friend' jokes in the first few episodes killed me.

T.C. fucked around with this message at 08:52 on May 8, 2018

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Chairman Capone posted:

the remix took out part of it (when John Beard asks him how old Maebe is)

What the gently caress? That's one of my favorite scenes too and Tobias' reply was great.

Also "BULLSHIT! :haw:" is still pure gold. I haven't seen the recut but I was one of those who really enjoyed season 4 as it was originally presented. I really liked how they handled the callbacks and layering of reveals of what was going on parallel to each character's episode.

Golden Bee
Dec 24, 2009

I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.
I thought there was a ton ton ton of recaps and the new version, but then I discovered the skip recap feature. Which was pulling out a full 3 minutes of episode in places.

I laughed just as hard this time when they visit Andy Richter on set. “You’re funny, you should be in the writers room...”

Did they not explain the maca root/estrogen in the recut?

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Whoa now you mention it I don’t remember them actually properly explaining the George Sr./Oscar personality switch

The Walrus
Jul 9, 2002

by Fluffdaddy
I am absolutely loving the recut season 4. The little bit that's lost from S4 (george maheris payoff etc) is way more than made up for by the increased watchability. It's got the snappiness that was missing from the original S4. Episode 9 and 10 feature a ton of Tobias/Debris but it's actually enjoyable because it's cut with other stuff. The added music does so much as well. Really great, it has me very very very much looking forward to S5.

Golden Bee
Dec 24, 2009

I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.

Escobarbarian posted:

Whoa now you mention it I don’t remember them actually properly explaining the George Sr./Oscar personality switch

There is “the weak will become the strong thing” but that’s immediately undercut.

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


The Walrus posted:

I am absolutely loving the recut season 4. The little bit that's lost from S4 (george maheris payoff etc) is way more than made up for by the increased watchability. It's got the snappiness that was missing from the original S4. Episode 9 and 10 feature a ton of Tobias/Debris but it's actually enjoyable because it's cut with other stuff. The added music does so much as well. Really great, it has me very very very much looking forward to S5.

The composer, David Schwartz, is a huge reason why the show's funny. He changed the background music for the Lucille/Buster smoke transfer scene in the edit, and improved it tremendously by doing so. Now it's like the track of some weird 70's lady's cigarette commercial.

Golden Bee
Dec 24, 2009

I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.
Lady alluuuuure...

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


I really want the entirety of the Lady Allure track, it's so ridiculous and perfect.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
I haven't seen S4 since it premiered and I'm not done with the remix yet, so my memory is fuzzy, but doesn't that season end on a cliffhanger?

ONE YEAR LATER
Apr 13, 2004

Fry old buddy, it's me, Bender!
Oven Wrangler
Yes, Lucille 2 is apparently dead and Buster is accused of her murder.

Although, I remember a shot of the stair car steps covered in what appears to be blood but without any body shown at the end of the final episode in the original cut, whereas they show apparently bloody stair car step with Lucille 2 laying on them in the first episode of the remix, so I don't know if they changed it or if I just misremembered it.

Concurred
Apr 23, 2003

My team got swept out of the playoffs, and all I got was this avatar and red text

Hair?

Ubiquitous_
Nov 20, 2013

by Reene

Her?

RJWaters2
Dec 16, 2011

It was not not not so great
I can't say if I'd prefer the new edit instead of the original, but I feel like I'm laughing a lot more at this.
My verdict: watch original the first time and Fateful Consequences on rewatch?

Chairman Capone
Dec 17, 2008

Jose Oquendo posted:

I haven't seen S4 since it premiered and I'm not done with the remix yet, so my memory is fuzzy, but doesn't that season end on a cliffhanger?

ONE YEAR LATER posted:

Yes, Lucille 2 is apparently dead and Buster is accused of her murder.

Although, I remember a shot of the stair car steps covered in what appears to be blood but without any body shown at the end of the final episode in the original cut, whereas they show apparently bloody stair car step with Lucille 2 laying on them in the first episode of the remix, so I don't know if they changed it or if I just misremembered it.

I also thought that shot in the first episode of the remix was new.

If I recall, the original S4 also ends with Maebe being arrested as a sex predator after sleeping with her underage boyfriend.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Chairman Capone posted:

If I recall, the original S4 also ends with Maebe being arrested as a sex predator after sleeping with her underage boyfriend.

My absolute favorite part of that is her brief pause before,"...nah, I'll be fine."

drunkill
Sep 25, 2007

me @ ur posting
Fallen Rib
You're gonna get hop-ons

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


Speaking of the stair car, anyone going to the Netflix Never Nude meet up in Philly?

Heavy_D
Feb 16, 2002

"rararararara" contains the meaning of everything, kept in simple rectangular structures
Our intrepid narrator compels you to go see a Star War

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Heavy_D posted:

Our intrepid narrator compels you to go see a Star War

That ♪ Mr. F! ♪ bit :vince:

Isometric Bacon
Jul 24, 2004

Let's get naked!
Bah. I just read that Netflix Australia doesn't have the rights to show Season 5 on May 29th. drat foxtel!

I loved Season 4 and it's intricately woven plot, with little things building up to have a huge payoff later, so the idea of a chronological 'remix' sounded like an unnecessary copout fan edit. However I've been watching it tonight and I'm quite impressed at how well it is paced and edited thus far.

The new narration bits and jokes are great too. I loved "And so it was Lucille who was given the task of interviewing the key witness... Although she was clearly green at screening witnesses."

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Ugh that Australia thing is poo poo. Sorry to hear.

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

Escobarbarian posted:

Ugh that Australia thing is poo poo. Sorry to hear.
You can just say "Australia."

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Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Heh. Remember when S4 was in pre-production and there was serious talks about Michael Cera wasn't going to be in it because he was far too busy and important to make the time for it now?

Probably couldn't wait until S5 started.

Also saw this book from 1977 in a Half Price Books recently:

https://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Not-Bob-Loblaw/dp/0879490713/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525893720&sr=1-2&keywords=bob+loblaw

Davros1 fucked around with this message at 20:23 on May 9, 2018

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