NoWo's Reviews
Fun show, annoying girl-boss.
Disclaimer: I have not read/watched the original.
The multi-racial cast of characters seems to make sense in context. It works for me at least, without feeling forced. The actors know they're playing archetypes (or caricatures), and deliver as best as they can (which is surprisingly good) without remorse or attempt at a modern nth degree critique.
The biggest flaw in this show being the Nami character, which the show-runners try to push front and center. She's not witty, not charming, not sexy, and the writers seem unaware that being antagonistic is not a redeeming quality.
Also, for being so strong (supposedly, as the writers adhere to the "tell, don't show" policy when there is nothing to show), she's surprisingly useless, except for disrupting the group dynamic, and padding run-time with a less than useful back-story.
On a surprising note, in the swordsman backstory, a (pre-teen) female character openly admits that her male peers will grow up to be taller, stronger, faster, and overall better fighters than herself. In a 2023 show. Factual, 20th century biology.
One stands amazed.
Edit for series 2: still good.
On the minus side, it seems the woke American production has decided it could get away with it, and obvious race swapping happens. Don't care about the author's input, I can check images too, and the princess character is clearly white, not Indian, and her bodyguard wears a Renaissance wig. Under which people would whiten their skins further with makeup.
Then again, the cook, well, cooks, smokes, womanizes, and fights with kicks. And speaks in a British accent, despite being caricaturally French.
On the plus side, the production is still charmingly earnest, and cartoonishly full steam ahead on the non-sense. The hairdos are really something.
It works for most of the characters. The smoker guy steals from the Witcher, and the inquisition swordsman guy does his best Rickman impression. Not the worse sources for inspiration.
The raccoon is real cute too.
It also seems they're trying to push the family-friendly boundaries. There's some real albeit tame cursing (not just cussing), and some characters turn the sexy up. Well, try to. Bikini-top red-head doesn't work, neither does Indian princess. On the other hand, cowboy hat girl, well, I don't think the actress can turn it off. Lots of beefcake too, but hey, pirates.
Also, violent death. Not very graphic, often below red-shirt level, but still. The sword guy has a 80%+ casualty rate (estimated), that's pretty hard-core. Unexpectedly realistic. John Wick levels body count.
Not necessarily suitable for the smaller ones.
Created: 10-27-2023
Entertaining. Visually superb. Unexpectedly balanced.
Lots of girl-boss moments in the beginning, worst offender being Wednesday herself.
Turns out, she's wrong. Often. Stubbornly so. And her actions cause damages to those around her.
So yeah, girl-boss.
Also, I wonder about casting Guzman as Gomez. The original Gomez (John Astin) was not half-bad looking, and Raul Julia had utterly stupid, Mastroianni levels of suave. Morticia is still portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was a smoke-show in the previous century.
The whole thing gives off a "what did she see in him, is she a gold digger" vibe, instead of the much more enjoyable "still crazy after all these years" of the original. Possible female pandering that, astonishingly, ruins a good thing.
The show itself is entertaining, concise, somewhat predictable, but still good fun.
Created: 10-27-2023
Visually stunning UNTIL
the race/gender swap begins.
Dream is pretty much spot-on. Death turns black, which mostly destroys a visually-conceived character. Lucifer turns female and ugly. Worst offender is Lucien, turning both female and black, and thus proving there's a war on gingers. All this before the end of episode 2, if memory serves.
Couldn't muster the patience to watch until the Corinthian appeared, I just looked up the visuals on the Interwebs. Mildly disappointing, but this one would have been a struggle to make work anyway.
Also, everybody's been bitten by the gay fly. It does break the flow of the show at some (early) point.
Hey well, there's always the comics.
BTW, Sandman's high concept and many key characters are very reminiscent of Brit author Tanith Lee's Tales From the Flat Earth, although Gaiman never acknowledged any influence. According to recent news, he does seem to be a most repugnant person anyway.
Created: 10-27-2023
Brilliant show.
Legally realistic only insofar as StarGate is a documentary on space travel, but fun.
The central character (Spader's) expresses classical JFK-era Democrat views, but the show does strive for a balanced perspective, with Shatner's Republican caricature often being ridicule, but as often being right.
Of note, the show pictures a profound relationship between two men, without a hint of homosexuality.
Created: 10-27-2023
Throwback to the 80s
Creature feature as expected. Not a great movie, but hey, Cage fight.
Everybody is on the stupid spectrum so that the scenario can proceed, so, no preaching.
Created: 10-27-2023
