Thoughts on the rebooted He-Man (Netflix)

[GreyLord]

94% on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't mean it's a 9.4 out of 10. It means that if you categorize professional critic reviews into "it's good" or "it's not good", 94% of them said "it's good". Me sitting here, saying it's a 7 or 8 out of 10, saying it's overall pretty good but has some really bad parts? Makes me part of the twenty-something percent of "fans" saying "it's good".

I mean, I'm pretty sure the opposite of "review bombing" would just be review bombing, but I've never heard of it. Even at the height of people saying anyone who liked Alita: Battle Angel more than Captain Marvel was a patronizing fedora-wearing misogynist... I never heard of a campaign by said people to go out and make Alita look better by giving it a bunch of fake positive reviews.

Only seen them once each. I didn't really get fascinated by Captain Marvel, but Alita just was freaky weird. You don't have to copy the anime eyes into movie form...that was just strange looking for a robot that's supposedly somewhat humanlike. Didn't watch the anime, but were the eyes REALLY something that were that odd and weird in the anime (as in, most anime eyes can be large and I assumed the anime for Alita was just copying that style, not that she actually had oversized eyes that were much larger than anyone else's could ever really be in the cartoon)?

So...off topic, but of the two I'd probably choose Captain Marvel anyday of the week, but a lot of that may be because the entire shtick with the eyes of Alita weirded me out.

 

[MarkB]

Only seen them once each. I didn't really get fascinated by Captain Marvel, but Alita just was freaky weird. You don't have to copy the anime eyes into movie form...that was just strange looking for a robot that's supposedly somewhat humanlike. Didn't watch the anime, but were the eyes REALLY something that were that odd and weird in the anime (as in, most anime eyes can be large and I assumed the anime for Alita was just copying that style, not that she actually had oversized eyes that were much larger than anyone else's could ever really be in the cartoon)?

So...off topic, but of the two I'd probably choose Captain Marvel anyday of the week, but a lot of that may be because the entire shtick with the eyes of Alita weirded me out.

For Alita, I accepted the eyes as being a stylistic choice, but the character just has this very straight-ahead keep-bashing-at-the-problem-until-something-breaks attitude that basically works out for her, for the most part, purely due to plot conveniences. There were some fun action sequences, but she just wasn't very interesting as a person.

 

[Tonguez]

I liked Alita, the anime eyes were a style choice (and apparently an fx challenge) but for me it helped convey the pinnocho theme that she was an artificial ‘doll’ who was still learning about the world and how she was suppose to fit in it.

As to Capt. Marvel, it was better than Thor 1 and Dork World, but I wouldnt say it was better than Ultron. Maybe on par with IM v Whiplash (I cant even remember the IM Killian joke)

 

[Mallus]

I have practically no memories of He-Man, probably because it wasn't a show I would watch with any regularity.

I wasn't a big fan, but I saw enough of it. Including, for some reason I can't now identify, the live-action movie with Frank Langella as Skeletor. I fancy myself more of a Thundercats man (note: irony intended).

But I guess the real problem is that I enjoyed Netflix' She-Ra way more than I ever expected and this isn't that.

Thanks for reminding me I need to finish She-Ra. Stopped at the beginning of season 4. It's pretty damn impressive - though maybe not to the level of Steven Universe or Adventure Time. Still, being handed a toy commercial from the 1980s and turning it into a personal work is something Noelle Stevenson deserves a lot of praise for. Still, after 5 episodes I'm enjoying He-Man more. It's aimed right at me. It's subject is the emotional attachment aging adults have for the stories of their youth. Specially, the kinda terrible stories that don't really warrant it. In Search of Lost Toys, fanservice elevated to art.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Watching the entire series or movie (or playing the entire game), thinking it over, and then giving your honest opinion.

I think it’s a mistake to view review bombing as criticism. The practice has more in common with information warfare (establish control of the narrative) or boycotting (pressure a company to do/not do something).

It has been really frustrating how so much entertainment seems to get made and viewed through a lot of the cultural and political lenses of the present day, and quality often is the last real consideration on both sides. What I've been doing lately, because increasingly both positive and negative reviews are harder to take seriously, and because I know my own reaction can be affected by the cultural conversation, is I wait at least a year to watch new movies or shows (and I don't watch that many to begin with). It just allows me to assess a movie when all the emotions surrounding it have died down (it also allows me to enjoy things for their own sake, and not feel like if I like something I am on team A and if I don't like something I am on team B). For me the measure of a film has always been does it impact me emotionally. Movies with messages I don't particularly agree with, movies that are more heavy handed in their messaging than I prefer, can all still be quality and have that emotional heft I am looking for. But I want the emotion to come from the movie itself, and my honest response to it, not from the cultural moment the movie exists in.

 

[Blue]

Finished the season. It was … fine enough, I feel like it’s a bit in the middle ground of too involved for kids but too simple for adults.

Orko was the highlight for me, thst was the best part of the show.

So a question, is it ever explained in the original show why all these other people know He-mans secret, but Tesla can’t?

"All these other people" = next to nobody in the original show, a very closely guarded secret.

This show happens to be focusing on mostly that subset of the good guys. It's not representative. (Oh, and I think adding the Queen was something new.)

 

[Aldarc]

I don't bat an eye at the big twist. Like, did none of y'all nostalgic fans ever watch the Transformers cartoon movie where they killed off literally every original character except Bumblebee and the Dinobots, because that way they could sell new toys?

I thought that movie had traumatized a whole generation?

It did, myself included (R.I.P. Prowl ) Hasbro had no idea that it would be that traumatic, so when it came to their GI Joe movie, Duke was supposed to die, but, instead, he got put into a comma with a line at the end about him now recovering.

But it wasn't until Beast Wars that Hasbro learned that people were primarily buying the characters on the show, and that it was better to keep those characters around, but give them upgrades (e.g., transmetal, transmetal 2, fusors, etc.) than to try showcasting 50+ characters at once in the show. However, Beast Wars's small cast was primarily a limitation of budget with CGI.

"All these other people" = next to nobody in the original show, a very closely guarded secret.

This show happens to be focusing on mostly that subset of the good guys. It's not representative. (Oh, and I think adding the Queen was something new.)

She implicitly knew:

Prince Adam: “Mother, I was just wondering…”
Queen Marlena: “Yes, what is it Adam ?”
Prince Adam: “Well, I was wondering when Skeletor had us all chained up, why did you free me instead of one of the others ?”
Queen Marlena: “Because you are my son, Adam. I didn’t have time to free everyone. And I had a ‘feeling’ you would know what to do.”
Prince Adam: “Uh, Mother ? Uh…”
Queen Marlena: “Adam. A mother always knows her own son. And what he is capable of doing. I’ve always been very proud of you Adam.”

I also vaguely recall an episode in either the original Filmation or the 2002 series where Queen Marlena kinda pieces it together when Battle Cat takes Queen Marlena to a location that has some significance or special memory in regards to Cringer.

 

[DammitVictor]

"All these other people" = next to nobody in the original show, a very closely guarded secret.

This show happens to be focusing on mostly that subset of the good guys. It's not representative. (Oh, and I think adding the Queen was something new.)

Orko, Duncan, Cringer, and the Sorceress were in on it. Marlena clocked him on her own, and never told anyone else about it-- she may have guessed that Duncan knew, but for all she actually knew, Teela was in on it, too.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Orko, Duncan, Cringer, and the Sorceress were in on it. Marlena clocked him on her own, and never told anyone else about it-- she may have guessed that Duncan knew, but for all she actually knew, Teela was in on it, too.

Considering that in the old cartoon Adam and He-man look like the exact same guy in different clothes the mindboggling part is that someone wouldn't know. So basically the same issue than with Superman.

In the new show Adam actually looks significantly different than He-Man, so it makes far more sense.

 

[MoonSong]

Considering that in the old cartoon Adam and He-man look like the exact same guy in different clothes the mindboggling part is that someone wouldn't know. So basically the same issue than with Superman.

In the new show Adam actually looks significantly different than He-Man, so it makes far more sense.

That has been done ever since New Adventures. Though I have very vague memories of it. I was like three? four when it was broadcast in my country?