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I think the biggest problem is that the characters are mostly reactionary. They're trying to tell this interconnected plot (I think?) but despite establishing all these stakes and problems the characters remain entirely indifferent to every new piece of information or event, remaining stationary to make jokes of middling quality until something happens to them that advances the story, often as a result of coincidence. Bean's constantly talking about how deeply her mother's betrayal has affected her, for example, but makes no effort to discover anything about why. Why should the viewer give a rat's rear end about anything introduced if the characters don't? The show refuses to commit to whether it's a story-driven comedy or a basic sitcom with occasional moments of isolated plot progression, so you have storylines interrupting what could be premises for satire or parody and the need for locations and characters to largely remain or return to a static hobbling its ability to tell a coherent story. There should not be twenty-episode gaps between introducing something that is supposed to be important and significant, and actually having it come into play or at least be explicated on. And yet it has multiple instances of exactly that.
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Feb 23, 2022 16:29
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By far the worst part is how every character is written identically. Everyone has such strong and instantly recognizable character archetypes then every single person is just bender. Like first episode bean is an unsure young adult with a devil on one shoulder and an innocent elf so pure he doesn't know what blood is, being told by her stuffy royal dad to follow the rules, but she sneaks out to the town where everyone is wild and free. Like they got like 20 characters to fill a range of different roles. When something happens you should be able to get a gag at how the diffrent people react. And plot lines about the different motivations and responsibilities. Is bean going to do the right thing or the easy thing, how does elfo react to the awful new world he lives in, what about luci having to deal with having friends for the first time. Like it's a basically great setup for endless material. But the show just instantly goes "yeah, everyone is a drunk, everyone loves gambling and is stupid. You know, like what if it was futurama but everyone was bender". Like no matter what happens elfo will be horny and cynical at it, bean will be horny and cynical at it, luci will be horny and cynical at it, the king will be horny and cynical at it, the advisor will be, the prince will be, the wizard will be. etc etc etc. Like it's not even like they are subverting things where they flip the script and everyone acts the opposite of their archetype (futurama with a jamaican accountant, a robot with human vices, a ship doctor that is poor and uneducated). Everyone is just THE SAME. Like if there was a scene they killed a big gross troll and it fell into a big vat of beer they were drinking, there is no one person on the entire show that them saying "eww gross! :pours another: just one more" wouldn't be the joke they made.
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Feb 23, 2022 17:49
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Owlofcreamcheese posted:Everyone is just THE SAME. a good post Ironslave posted:I think the biggest problem is that the characters are mostly reactionary. also a good post
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Feb 23, 2022 20:00
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The last batch of episodes felt like the world of the show was growing, but it feels like its shrinking again. At times it feels like Bean and Zog are characters in search of a show that fits them. I rather liked the last lot, so what happened between them and this batch? Even the timing feels off.
OldMemes fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Feb 24, 2022 |
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Feb 24, 2022 00:41
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crossposting here and the only other sad thread that might care: DiMaggio is back in; suck it, Disney https://mobile.twitter.com/TheJohnDiMaggio/status/1498788959198978052
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Mar 2, 2022 03:39
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Good for him. No one should ever feel bad about fighting for fair compensation for their work and for their fellow workers.
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Mar 2, 2022 05:10
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*that* was how they end the season? gently caress off
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Mar 8, 2022 05:25
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I've been rewatching this with my GF and we still both enjoy it, and laugh out loud sometimes (if not often enough). I was surprised to read the extreme dislike here, I definitely felt something was off with the show but it was satisfying in a world-building sense. It has a sense of depth beyond its immediate focus...like futurama with its cryptic jokes/plotlines, or the way venture Bros incorporated into the story what had previously been background characters. It makes rewatching a real treat as you pick up on little background details that become important, or even just used for a joke. I guess the seams are a little too visible though. They set up a world of questions and moving parts to leave us eager for the answers, but it's a bit too obvious they're either drawing out the payoff or simply padding time to figure out how to make it work. There's still time for it to be rewarding IMO, but if it ends with this last episode I won't have much good to say about it. Presenting the idea of a grand overarching story is fine even if it doesn't exist yet, but mastering the use of that setup and then never really delivering is worthy of the scorn I see here.
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Apr 1, 2022 23:43
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BRJurgis posted:I've been rewatching this with my GF and we still both enjoy it, and laugh out loud sometimes (if not often enough). I agree with this. I think that the whole thing where they're drawing things out for a later payoff is, well, kind-of a deal where this show is a product of its time and location. It's on a streaming service in the 2020s. Long strings of serial cliffhangers are just how these kinds of shows go, and the payoffs at the ends of the seasons are, themselves, cliffhangers. I've been re-watching the show too, and I'm noticing so much more on the second watch. Like, well, Chazz is there from the start. When he suddenly becomes a prominent characters in the, what, third part or so? Well, I was thinking, OK, this is neat, but who is this guy? Should I know who he is? And yeah, I should have, because he's been there from the start. Usually, when this happens, it's because the show isn't interesting enough to stick in my head, but that's not the case, because I really like this show. I think the problem, at least for me, is that the seasons are released all at once and very far apart. That encourages me, a guy who hates binging shows, to watch at least 3-4 at a time, and in a week or so, I'm done. So I watch it all at once (by my standards), and then I have to wait a year to watch more. In that year, a lot of other stuff happens in my brain, so a lot of the details get lost. It probably doesn't help that most of the time between parts 2, 3, and 4 were after the Beforetimes.
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Apr 2, 2022 00:06
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BRJurgis posted:There's still time for it to be rewarding IMO, but if it ends with this last episode I won't have much good to say about it. Presenting the idea of a grand overarching story is fine even if it doesn't exist yet, but mastering the use of that setup and then never really delivering is worthy of the scorn I see here. i think four seasons in is well past the point where it might eventually get good
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Apr 2, 2022 14:14
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tarlibone posted:I agree with this. As I enjoy my pipe and my cups pretty liberally and will sometimes forget entire episodes, any show worth watching is going to get a rewatch from me. I love discovering little connections and references, inside jokes and cryptic foreshadowing. It's like the feeling one got watching Arrested Development, or watching Epic Rap Battles of History (where I always discover a reference or some wordplay that I previously hadn't appreciated, even after all this time). A reward for looking deeper, and paying attention beyond just having it on in the background as you do something else. I agree that some of this is the result of an obvious formula based on the way we watch shows now. I guess it will come down to whether they are truly stringing us along in such a cynical fashion, or do have a well crafted way to resolve or expand upon these plot points (without just dropping them and raising new questions, which they've seemingly been a bit too glad to do thus far). punishedkissinger posted:i think four seasons in is well past the point where it might eventually get good Four seasons (TECHNICALLY two right?) isn't too long for them to make these pieces work together in a satisfying way, to me it just depends on what I wrote above. They even had a quote that seemed to reference this in an episode last night, something along the lines of "I know it seems like they're just making it up as they go along, but I bet there's still a deep rewarding story that's been there from the beginning!" Plus, considering I've admitted to enjoying, laughing at, and rewatching the show I couldn't really say it isn't already "good". It will simply lose my goodwill if they end on this teetering tower of cliffhangers after they've endeavored to raise the promise of so many interesting answers.
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Apr 2, 2022 15:49
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Zog feels like the character with the most development aside from Bean. Bean feels like she should be as interesting a character as Fry - all of the pieces are there, they just don't quite feel like they've been put together right.
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Apr 7, 2022 22:09
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OldMemes posted:Zog feels like the character with the most development aside from Bean. She doesn't have a lot of motivation. Too busy running from one emergency to the next or caught up in conspiracies that are never explained.
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Apr 7, 2022 22:16
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Disenchantment feels almost like someone's side project that they got contracted into doing 2 series of. Which would explain why the second series (so 'part 3 and 4') are so loving all over the place Part 1/2 SORT OF had a reasonable thing going.
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Apr 9, 2022 10:00
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I guess I should watch the last two episodes 
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Apr 9, 2022 13:49
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Well it’s getting another (final) season in September. Only hope I can have is that it has to be more focused and can’t introduce another handful of superfluous characters and sideplots since it has to actually tie up everything. We’ll see!
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Aug 14, 2023 05:26
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I'll probably watch it out of curiosity if it's on Netflix. Otherwise I won't bother, like I didn't bother with the latest season of Futurama.
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Aug 14, 2023 09:52
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Unfortunately to me making GBS threads the bed for four seasons means that they're trying to stick the landing on a mountain made of butter. Or poo poo. Any ending is going to fail because there's nothing to grab onto here. But, morbidly curious how such a commitment-averse show will try anyway. At least it'll look gorgeous when it's flailing around. Eighties ZomCom posted:I'll probably watch it out of curiosity if it's on Netflix. Otherwise I won't bother, like I didn't bother with the latest season of Futurama. Futurama is fine, largely because the original run was so strong and they keep managing to write really lovely series finales every time it gets canceled. Helps that it's a sitcom approach to things and they aren't trying to write some grand narrative, with the exception of the three movie season, which coincidentally is where the show really struggled.
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Aug 14, 2023 10:22
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Pants Donkey posted:Well it’s getting another (final) season in September. Only hope I can have is that it has to be more focused and can’t introduce another handful of superfluous characters and sideplots since it has to actually tie up everything. Turns out there's a fourth world, on top of the fairy kingdom world, the ancient desert world and the steampunk world. It'll be introduced in the final episode as the true key to princess what'sherface's destiny or some poo poo.
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Aug 14, 2023 12:56
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Yea new Futurama is atrocious I'm so surprised that this has another series, really blows my mind. I'm trying to even remember if I watched the last one that was one
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Aug 14, 2023 22:09
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Taear posted:Yea new Futurama is atrocious New Futurama is aggressively bland. Netflix must reallllllllly want to be the first people Groening calls with his next TV idea, because there is no reason to have let this go on past the first ordered run of 2 seasons.
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Aug 14, 2023 22:12
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IMO Disenchantment still looks like a really good concept on paper. If you gave me a new show with basically the same premise, cast, and art style I'd still be down to watch it. I even watched the first season a second time at some point hoping it would catch me but the writing is just so tepid. I don't even hate it but as soon as news stops coming out about it I'll probably never ever think about it again.
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Aug 15, 2023 02:37
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I'm all in. The show is good enough, even if it has some pretty obvious flaws. It's a neat idea, I like the environment and the wonderful universe they created, and only a couple of the characters are super-annoying. It's not my favorite show, but it's more original than a lot of crap out there. And, let's be realistic here: it's not like there's a lot else happening on TV because of the strike. Some already-produced animated shows are going to come out, and that's about it for a little while. Then, nothing.
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Aug 15, 2023 03:34
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Vox Machina manages to do a fantasy cartoon a lot better than this. It's even funny!
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Aug 15, 2023 17:15
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As long as they don't decide to make John Dimaggio honk for an entire season again.
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Aug 15, 2023 18:20
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The show entertained me and has some genuinely memorable or hilarious moments. Had a sour end though, with them so committed to adding plot elements but then just leaving things hanging. Like it was my job to demand the show return or whatever. It doesn't amount to much if it ends like that, with all the world building questions they set up. Of course I do still want to see the next season, so hope it's awesome I spose.
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Aug 16, 2023 01:39
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tarlibone posted:And, let's be realistic here: it's not like there's a lot else happening on TV because of the strike. Some already-produced animated shows are going to come out, and that's about it for a little while. Then, nothing. The strike hasn't been effecting stuff that's currently airing at all yet, save for less press tours. Righteous Gemstones just wrapped, Only Murderers in the Building, Reservation Dogs, How To w/ John Wilson, are just coming out, Solar Opposites and Futurama are premiering on Hulu, Rick and Morty back in the fall... and I'm sure tons of shows I'm not even aware of.
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Aug 16, 2023 03:35
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There's also a gently caress load of stuff that's sitting around IIRC. Two seasons of Wheel of Time, for e.g. Funny that.
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Aug 16, 2023 05:47
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No way can they wrap this up in 10 episodes
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Aug 18, 2023 02:31
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twistedmentat posted:As long as they don't decide to make John Dimaggio honk for an entire season again. Christ that was awful
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Aug 18, 2023 03:26
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Zog meets Shocko got a laugh. Elfeses are the best consistent funny.
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Aug 18, 2023 04:01
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BrotherJayne posted:Christ that was awful I really want to know if he was too busy with something else to come in and do stuff, so they just let Zog honk.
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Aug 18, 2023 06:10
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Rectal Death Adept posted:No way can they wrap this up in 10 episodes There's nothing to wrap up. The show has shown such disdain towards resolution and change that nothing holds any weight. Even when something 'world changing' happens, they shrug it off in seconds in a follow-up episode. There is no way to land this plane, it crashed seasons ago and nothing rose from the ashes. It's like they tried to thread the needle between soap opera and sitcom, but went with the worst qualities of both.
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Aug 24, 2023 04:16
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The show ends, zooms out to show Fry finishing his book saying "now he's trapped in a book I wrote, a world of plot holes and spelling errors"
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Aug 24, 2023 05:33
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I am the greetest!
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Aug 26, 2023 08:39
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BrotherJayne posted:I am the greetest! And now I am leaving for no raisen!
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Aug 26, 2023 23:21
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The first two episodes aren't too bad. It's a lot less heavy on jokes, and a lot more involved with the story. I should point out, though, that there were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments for me. I should say that it did confirm something about the origins of texting that I'd suspected for a long time.
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Sep 2, 2023 05:55
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It's bad. A couple of funny scenes - the strongest ones are Bean and Mora talking about their relationship, where the jokes are pretty good and Bean gets some much-needed dimensionality. On the whole though, the season is just another baffling reminder of the show's squandered potential. All these amazing voice actors, the gorgeous art and music, and then the writing is This. Plots are incoherent, continuity's a mess, jokes are few and far between. The episode where the Dreamland gang are running from Evil Bean's headless body is just...man, I don't know what's going on there. They spend the whole episode repetitively running away from it, but then it starts heading towards the castle and they follow it? Their whole thing is hiding the body from Dagmar for [reasons that nobody remembers] but that morphs into this entirely separate thing, at odds with the first thing, and then Elfo and Dagmar have the most tepid confrontation imaginable and the situation resets to zero. It's such weird, janky storytelling. The gag early on with the audience stand-in who's like, "I don't remember what's going on and many of the things that happened up til now are confusing and poorly explained!", and then gets shot, or Alva being like, "this'll help me with my poorly defined evil plan" - it really doesn't make the show's core problems better if you just point out that they're problems, and then don't fix them. If the point is meant to be that the overarching plot makes no sense and is deeply cryptic and unsatisfying, why has the show spent so much time and energy focusing on it? It could be a funny joke that the plot is bad, but they don't go that direction either, they just lovingly point out the show's failures and then continue to do them.
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Sep 2, 2023 13:27
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It’s not a good sign that I took a break after watching three episodes, and realized I had actually just finished episode two.
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Sep 2, 2023 19:29
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This show would have been a lot better if it would have been more episodic like Futurama. I thought the final episode wrapped things up nicely for what it was I guess. The part with God letting all the cats into heaven kinda got to me since my 21 year old cat died a few months ago.  I liked it more than most of you guys but I can’t really argue with most of the criticisms. It could have been more. SeANMcBAY fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Sep 5, 2023 |
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Sep 5, 2023 01:58
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