What TV shows are you currently watching?

For All Mankind (Appletv+, 4th season) - Well the Finale was good but the season as a whole I thought was probably the weakest of the 4. I feel like the season is a huge transitional thing but not sure if it can make the switch from alternate history to alternate reality as the time line approaches current day. Eh we'll see next season if it can continue the shift though if not they should wrap it up as an original premise goes away.
 
3 BP S1. Not bad. Good performances and good production values tho story feels a bit rushed The good: the science, the historical allegory. The soso: the dramamarama. The meh: self centered motivations of many of the main cast, needing the alien adversary to have the critical thinking ability of a 5 year old in order to drive the scenario. Tho that is really a crucial part of the historical allegory and I imagine the books which havent read, so Ill let it pass for now. I guess its only gonna have 3 seasons for the 3 books so we dont have to worry that the famous showrunners will get bored with it at the end like they did with GOT S7-8.
 
For 3 body problem
The screen adaptation I think makes it easier to see various people's motivations, and the alien change of heart than was evident from reading the books. Part of that is simply being able to keep track of all the characters and who-is-who, as the original book is chock-full of names (chinese at that) and I'm bad with names/memory at the best of times. Attaching faces helped a lot in keeping things straight for me.

Ye's initial thought was that people were idiots. She lived through the cultural revolution and had no faith in humanity. That the aliens were surely better. She eventually came to regret that naiveite. The aliens are people too.

The aliens initial goal was to help the people of Earth prepare for their coming and see about working together. Everyone they interacted with in the game seemed helpful and assumed that humans were much like them. However, when they communicate they have a telepathic link and motivations, intent, etc, are all exposed between them. This idea of a hidden-self and agendas is utterly alien and terrifying to them... humanity could seem to welcome them and then rise up to wipe them out overnight. Much safer to simply decide to rid the earth of the competition. That's not really a 5 year old thinking process. An analogy... you have a room full of poisonous snakes. They seem docile. Do you toss your child in the room and hope that holds or do you assume that it's just a matter of time before something goes badly? The latter is more reasonable, and hey they're just snakes... kill them all if you need that room. They learned metaphor from the humans... we are bugs.. pests... unworthy of consideration, etc.


That said, there are some things in the books that expose the author's chinese mindset that would never fly in reality. I won't go into it as would be spoilerish for the second season.
 
Hm the tv series doesnt seem to make that very clear... I might have to rewatch it and missed something... I can see if the books could maybe make that a bit more believable. Its a bit rushed in the series where it seems they never gave us much thought. They get told a bit of a children's fairy tale and draw gross conclusions out of it... They spent what 20 years observing us via limited means? Then the sophons got here just a few years ago? That they dont seem to understand art supports the idea of rushing to a conclusion I suppose. Successive collapses might have made them extremely aggressive as a species. Survival at all costs... But usually these kinds of stories have aliens observing us for generations or thousands of years and coming to a 'kill all humans' conclusion only after a long analysis... saying that I really like how they ended on the bugs notion throwing it back into the aliens face... ok sure we're bugs alright but tough as nails. I think the historical analogy is cool tho in, if Im reading it right, the aliens are the westerners in the 18th-19 century coming to colonize China after it was ruled invariably by emperors, warlords and mongols and thus often very badly... The only times humans looked at other humans as bugs or vermin is under feudalism/fascism so a pretty bad moral failing on our part. If we met a species of snakes today as intelligent as us I dont think we'd rush to the 'they are vermin anyway kill em all' rationale that quickly... course again depends on who is ruling us at the time. The obvious hint that the aliens arent well ruled at this time either was early on when the original message said dont contact us again we arent enlightened... It would explain their eventual use of a poor rationale.
 
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watched true detective season 1. was pretty good. Driven by strong characters. Might check out s2 and s3 later
 
Just finished 'rewatching' House. I Don't think I ever finished it originally and unfortunately spoiled the ending for myself halfway through Season 8.
Such a good show, I forgot how funny it was.
 
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They get told a bit of a children's fairy tale and draw gross conclusions out of it...
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Well no. they get told a fairy tale and they can't understand it at all, as they can only think very very literally. The idea of subterfuge, etc, is utterly alien to them, pun intended. It opens up an opportunity for their contact to explain humanity to them, and they were not amused. They realized that humanity might be the wolf, pretending to be a friendly grandma, and then eat them instead.. metaphorically speaking, which is brand new to them. They're learning from us, hence using the metaphore of humanity being bugs.


Survival at all costs... But usually these kinds of stories have aliens observing us for generations or thousands of years and coming to a 'kill all humans' conclusion only after a long analysis...
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so
First note... the first alien told her not to respond. This implies that Earth isn't the first civilization that they've dealt with, or at least there is a long-standing plan to invade any world they can find. The aliens are living on borrowed time. They know it's inevitable that eventually they don't prep in time to save their society from the atrocities that the sun sets upon them regularly and will be utterly wiped out. Delay is risking doom and they don't have the time.

Next, the only person they talked to before setting out was Ye. A single message. By the time they got it, and their broadcast reply reached earth she was no longer in a position to answer them. So, their knowledge of earth was very very limited. They created the sophons and blasted it across space to get to earth before their ships did (which would take hundred of years) to prepare the way. Again, the people that they revealed themselves to were agreeable and helpful. They have 2 sophons... can't be wasting them on general observation, especially on a concept that they don't even realize exists, and the plan was already underway. The sophons went about making sure to screw with our scientific development so that we couldn't defend ourselves when they got here. This plan was in play before the notion of wiping everyone out.

Lastly, the reaction to kill the bugs was just that... a reaction to something they learned in real time. As you see, they reapproach at least one member to further their goals after more consideration.


I think the historical analogy is cool tho in, if Im reading it right, the aliens are the westerners in the 18th-19 century coming to colonize China after it was ruled invariably by emperors, warlords and mongols and thus often very badly... The only times humans looked at other humans as bugs or vermin is under feudalism/fascism so a pretty bad moral failing on our part.
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I dont think we'd rush to the 'they are vermin anyway kill em all' rationale that quickly... course again depends on who is ruling us at the time.
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Not just invading china, but yes... colonialists. I think you're being very generous to humanity regarding fuedalism, etc. Throughout our entire history, we've had disregard for the other.

For example, the entire slave trade (as it has existed since the beginning of time, not merely the colonial-era stuff) is wrapped around the idea that the subjugated aren't really human/us at all so can be treated differently. Nations have thought nothing of invading foreign territories and slaughtering men, women, children. Native populations have been wiped out or displaced for the benefit of the "superior" peoples. Aztecs invaded neighboring communities to sacrifice them to ensure their survival (as they saw it.) https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion

Regarding the reactionary element in my analogy, bear in mind they NEED that room. Leaving the snakes to have it to themselves is not an option in their opinion and you can't trust/reason with a snake.


Thanks for the discussion, Pax.
 
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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (appletv+) - I dunno I didn't like the pacing of the show. The flashbacks have been a little jarring in that there are so many and eats up so much run time of these short 40 min episodes. It sorta reminds me of Lost except that show had commercials that made the flashbacks less jarring. Otherwise okay and has setup for another season.
 
4 eps into Fallout. Less humor and more drama than the game but it has pretty much all the style it needs.
 
I've started making my way through Batman; The Animated Series on Netflix. I'm not sure if I ever saw the whole thing as a kid. So making my way through all of it in order.
 
2nd and last season of Carnival Row. Pretty cool and good looking show set in an alternate 19th century fantasy/victorian universe but they should've done the 4 planned seasons. The finale felt a bit rushed.
 
The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin - A silly little show sorta in the vein of Our Flag Means Death except utterly silly with not too much else going on unlike Flag. Show is short too with six 30min episodes which for something this silly is about right.
 
Just finished Fallout S1. Along with Last of Us pretty much the best videogame series made so far.
 
Starting Dead Boy Detectives, heh they got the same Death in Sandman to make a cameo. Episode 1 was sorta all over the place, from the headlines it seems like the show is more zany/fun than anything else. We'll see how it goes.
 
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