Amazon takes over Bond franchise

[Mercurius]

I think I watched one or two episodes of the Expanse, but was underwhelmed with overwhelming feelings of mehness.

As for Rings of Power, let's just say that after somehow completing the first season and a few episodes of the second, I had to spend two weeks curled up in the shower, gently caressing one of my many copies of The Silmarillion to regain some semblance of well-being.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

...and you lost me. At this point I have zero idea why you put more than 2-3 episodes into something you think is this awful.

Because people like you, possibly even literally you, told me it was good, you just had to stick with it.

Over and over and over.

And you know what? People like you were RIGHT, dammit! The show does get good! For like, over two seasons! Then it slides to being crappier than it was at the start.

It's not exactly uncommon for SF shows to have a dodgy couple of first seasons, is it?

People insisting it "gets good" is also what made me watch The Orville which actually get amazing by S3 too. So I listen to you people!

Some of the actors are bad, but some of them are fantastic.

Yes I addressed this later.

The beltah-loadah accent sounding like a strongly-accented older Jamaican man doing a mediocre impersonation of South African was a terrible choice to bring from the books to the screen though. They should have just made it some kind of easier-to-parse and less hilarious working class accent (Estuary or Cockney maybe).

 

[payn]

Because people like you, possibly even literally you, told me it was good, you just had to stick with it.

Over and over and over.

And you know what? People like you were RIGHT, dammit! The show does get good! For like, over two seasons! Then it slides to being crappier than it was at the start.

It's not exactly uncommon for SF shows to have a dodgy couple of first seasons, is it?

People insisting it "gets good" is also what made me watch The Orville which actually get amazing by S3 too. So I listen to you people!


Yes I addressed this later.

The beltah-loadah accent sounding like a strongly-accented older Jamaican man doing a mediocre impersonation of South African was a terrible choice to bring from the books to the screen though. They should have just made it some kind of easier-to-parse and less hilarious working class accent (Estuary or Cockney maybe).

On one hand the Suedo Jamaican accent is fitting for what the belters are going through, on the other hand the folks using it is a bit off. A rare miss in a show that does multiculturalism rather well.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, that first statement is a very bold position, which "currently on" and "live action" seeming to do an inordinate amount of work! I think it's fair to say that very few people indeed had a high opinion of S2, whether serious fantasy fans or casual viewers.

Rings of Power makes sure to sidle up next to Wheel of Time and look meaningfully at it whenever someone catches its eye.

 

[Guest 85555]

The one advantage here is I do in fact have prime. Usually when new shows come exclusively to streaming like Disney+ or Paramount, I don't have it and watching the stuff can be a pain. So I can at least check it out from curiosity. That said, I do not trust Amazon to manage the Bond IP well at all. I can almost see the James Bond, training days series they may be cooking in my mind. Or maybe they will try to emulate Cobra Kai (I enjoy that, but going to comedy soap opera direction definitely wouldn't work for Bond)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The one advantage here is I do in fact have prime. Usually when new shows come exclusively to streaming like Disney+ or Paramount, I don't have it and watching the stuff can be a pain. So I can at least check it out from curiosity. That said, I do not trust Amazon to manage the Bond IP well at all. I can almost see the James Bond, training days series they may be cooking in my mind. Or maybe they will try to emulate Cobra Kai (I enjoy that, but going to comedy soap opera direction definitely wouldn't work for Bond)

I think it's probably more useful to look at the two ongoing espionage franchises they're managing now:

• Mr. & Ms. Smith is an arty, post-modern take on James Bond (and the Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie) that has its thrills, but is mostly about these two people moving through a mysterious and dangerous world and how that impacts them as a couple. There are definitely some cool ideas that could be mirrored in Bond, but it's ultimately an extremely cool show about marriage.
• Citadel is a multi-language global TV franchise where, in theory, every major market will have their own stars in a local language version of an MCU-style story about two warring super-spy agencies. They've released three such shows now, I believe. And they're all ... fine. They definitely feel like a show created by a marketing committee. But the content that they have is very much Bond crossed with Bourne, which is what you'd probably expect from the marketing department.

I think the real danger for an Amazon-run Bond: The marketers would do lots of tests and surveys and spit out something they think will get the customers engaged, rather than find someone with a vision (like Donald Glover with the Smiths show) and create something interesting but which risks not engaging four quadrants of viewers.

Hopefully, someone smart will look at Citadel and send the marketing committee back to their cubicles to work on more Prime Day ads and find a creative person with an exciting vision for the next era of James Bond instead.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

(I enjoy that, but going to comedy soap opera direction definitely wouldn't work for Bond)

Quite. Cobra Kai is the right direction for the upcoming Buffy series if it actually gets made (it's allegedly moving forwards and they have a showrunner - Chloe Zhao - apparently a huge Buffy fan since back in the day, and SMG is onboard), imho. I mean slightly more horror-y/scary of course but that general ballpark.

But Bond nooooo not so much.

Citadel is a multi-language global TV franchise where, in theory, every major market will have their own stars in a local language version of an MCU-style story about two warring super-spy agencies. They've released three such shows now, I believe. And they're all ... fine. They definitely feel like a show created by a marketing committee. But the content that they have is very much Bond crossed with Bourne, which is what you'd probably expect from the marketing department.

It's incredibly bad imho, fine is ridiculously too kind! There are tons and tons of spy shows around right now and Citadel is just awful in the sheer wall of mediocrity it presents. At some point being actively bad/inept is less awful than overwhelming, high-budget mediocrity imho.

 

[Guest 85555]

Quite. Cobra Kai is the right direction for the upcoming Buffy series if it actually gets made (it's allegedly moving forwards and they have a showrunner - Chloe Zhao - apparently a huge Buffy fan since back in the day, and SMG is onboard), imho. I mean slightly more horror-y/scary of course but that general ballpark.

But Bond nooooo not so much.

I never actually watched buffy (I liked the movie but the show was aimed at a much younger audience I think when it came out). But I would imagine a lot of these older franchises trying to get younger and older fans (if they aren't something like Bond) could probably emulate Cobra Kai. One thing it does well is make both younger and older viewers feel like it is written for them

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

At some point being actively bad/inept is less awful than overwhelming, high-budget mediocrity imho.

Yeah, I'd rather have someone actually take a shot at doing something interesting than say "whatever you do, don't take any risks," an attitude that has never actually created memorable art.

 

[MarkB]

The one advantage here is I do in fact have prime. Usually when new shows come exclusively to streaming like Disney+ or Paramount, I don't have it and watching the stuff can be a pain. So I can at least check it out from curiosity. That said, I do not trust Amazon to manage the Bond IP well at all. I can almost see the James Bond, training days series they may be cooking in my mind.

I'm just imagining a Solo-style prequel in which Bond drinks his first martini, drives his first Aston Martin, fires his first Walther and seduces-and-abandons his first evil henchwoman all in the same training-mission-gone-real.