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The Strangerers

I searched but could not find this show on this board as a topic or discussion anywhere.

This show only aired for one season. There was a second season planned, but for reasons unknown to me it never came to be.

The program is written by Rob Grant. Rob Grant was also co-creator of Red Dwarf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Grant

The show is a Science Fiction comedy series and was first released in the UK in the year 2000. All nine episodes are available to watch for free on youtube. I will post the first episode and the youtube channel for the other 8 episodes. Enjoy!


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA91EEQd2L1AC5z0ZFpLrxA/featured
 
Free Guy: A film about A.I., the nature of reality and idealistic Game developers versus Big Business Game companies. Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is just another Non-Playing Character (NPC) in Free City, he's happy with his life, working in a bank that's robbed every day, seeing nothing odd with tanks in the streets, people being shot, on fire. He starts to develop consciousness, first asking for a different coffee, then reacting to someone wearing sunglasses (a player). This is Molotov Girl/Millie (Judie Comer), a developer whose AI design has been stolen by the evil Soonami Corporation who run the Free City game. Guy helps Millie in her attempts to gain proof of the steal in the process becoming famous to Gamers as Blue Shirt Guy. A tale of love as well as attaining sentience. At times though there is existential despair as Guy tries to convince his fellow characters that they are living in a simulation only to be struck by a vehicle. His exploits along with Millie are quite entertaining though as they battle Bond Villain style henchmen NPCs in their attempts to uncover secrets. Even a nod to The Greatest American Hero as Guy tries to master his powers which is followed up later by it's theme tune. A fun adventure which (like games) operates on several levels. Directed by Shawn Levy from a Screenplay by Zak Penn and Matt Liebermann. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
Free Guy: A film about A.I., the nature of reality and idealistic Game developers versus Big Business Game companies. Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is just another Non-Playing Character (NPC) in Free City, he's happy with his life, working in a bank that's robbed every day, seeing nothing odd with tanks in the streets, people being shot, on fire. He starts to develop consciousness, first asking for a different coffee, then reacting to someone wearing sunglasses (a player). This is Molotov Girl/Millie (Judie Comer), a developer whose AI design has been stolen by the evil Soonami Corporation who run the Free City game. Guy helps Millie in her attempts to gain proof of the steal in the process becoming famous to Gamers as Blue Shirt Guy. A tale of love as well as attaining sentience. At times though there is existential despair as Guy tries to convince his fellow characters that they are living in a simulation only to be struck by a vehicle. His exploits along with Millie are quite entertaining though as they battle Bond Villain style henchmen NPCs in their attempts to uncover secrets. Even a nod to The Greatest American Hero as Guy tries to master his powers which is followed up later by it's theme tune. A fun adventure which (like games) operates on several levels. Directed by Shawn Levy from a Screenplay by Zak Penn and Matt Liebermann. 8/10.

In cinemas.
This is currently playing at my theatre. I want to see it.:)
 
Free Guy: A film about A.I., the nature of reality and idealistic Game developers versus Big Business Game companies. Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is just another Non-Playing Character (NPC) in Free City, he's happy with his life, working in a bank that's robbed every day, seeing nothing odd with tanks in the streets, people being shot, on fire. He starts to develop consciousness, first asking for a different coffee, then reacting to someone wearing sunglasses (a player). This is Molotov Girl/Millie (Judie Comer), a developer whose AI design has been stolen by the evil Soonami Corporation who run the Free City game. Guy helps Millie in her attempts to gain proof of the steal in the process becoming famous to Gamers as Blue Shirt Guy. A tale of love as well as attaining sentience. At times though there is existential despair as Guy tries to convince his fellow characters that they are living in a simulation only to be struck by a vehicle. His exploits along with Millie are quite entertaining though as they battle Bond Villain style henchmen NPCs in their attempts to uncover secrets. Even a nod to The Greatest American Hero as Guy tries to master his powers which is followed up later by it's theme tune. A fun adventure which (like games) operates on several levels. Directed by Shawn Levy from a Screenplay by Zak Penn and Matt Liebermann. 8/10.

In cinemas.
Is this not a cross between 'The Truman Show' and ''The Nines (also starring Ryan Reynolds)'
 
I'm Your Man: Another film about A.I., consciousness, love and relationships. basically a romantic drama. Alma (Maren Eggert) is an archaeologist who agrees to beta test an android, Tom (Dan Stevens) who is programmed to be the perfect fit for her emotionally and intellectually. After a couple of teething problems she takes him home but grates at his suggestions. An odd coupe indeed in spite of supposedly being the perfect match. how things between them develop is moulded by Alma's personal and professional life. Her father is ageing and won't admit that he can't cope, Alma grieves over a miscarriage she suffered during a past relationship and her former partner is very much around. Even Alma's childhood is relevant to the narrative. Quite funny but also serious at times in how it deals with people being treated as objects and denied agency. In some ways this is a reverse Stepford Wives. Directed/Co-written by Maria Schrader. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
I'm Your Man: Another film about A.I., consciousness, love and relationships. basically a romantic drama. Alma (Maren Eggert) is an archaeologist who agrees to beta test an android, Tom (Dan Stevens) who is programmed to be the perfect fit for her emotionally and intellectually. After a couple of teething problems she takes him home but grates at his suggestions. An odd coupe indeed in spite of supposedly being the perfect match. how things between them develop is moulded by Alma's personal and professional life. Her father is ageing and won't admit that he can't cope, Alma grieves over a miscarriage she suffered during a past relationship and her former partner is very much around. Even Alma's childhood is relevant to the narrative. Quite funny but also serious at times in how it deals with people being treated as objects and denied agency. In some ways this is a reverse Stepford Wives. Directed/Co-written by Maria Schrader. 8/10.

In cinemas.

Terrific film! And Dan Stevens speaking perfect German! Hidden depths, that man. I really liked that the AI would just reflect Alma's personality and likes back at her, and that eventually worked its charm on her, despite her scepticism. But she's still too smart for it, and discerns why she's fallen for it. Now she has to decide if that matters.

The meeting with the sad middle aged professor who finally has a girlfriend, and doesn't care that she's a robot, was strangely unsettling. So much to think about the matters of love in this film, and how they're programmed (by nature and society) into the people as much as the AI. I recommend it too.
 
By accident I ran across a Netflix series called Katla.

It is based on the Icelandic folklore of “ changlings “ or shadow people who come out of the lava pits of volcanos.

Exact copies of real people try to take over the area.

The show moves slow, but I seem to come back to kept watching this program.

Just watched the final episode.
It's grim and fairly slow-paced, but very intriguing and with some clever twists and nuances about the whole changeling mythos.
A truly Fortean series and definitely recommended.
 
By accident I ran across a Netflix series called Katla.

It is based on the Icelandic folklore of “ changlings “ or shadow people who come out of the lava pits of volcanos.

Exact copies of real people try to take over the area.

The show moves slow, but I seem to come back to kept watching this program.
If it's anything about the huldufólk, I'm in. Sounds like there's a bit of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers twist, too. I'll add it to my watchlist.
 
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins: A good adventure story, MMA, sword fighting, gunplay, Ninjas, international conspiracies, motorbike chases and a lust for vengeance. Don't worry about plot holes and non sequiturs, let the action carry you along. A feel of Akira and Blade Runner in the production design helps. Directed by Robert Schwentke, written by Evan Spillotopoulos. 6/10.

In cinemas.
 
Massive flop, too, even taking the pandemic into consideration.
 
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins: A good adventure story, MMA, sword fighting, gunplay, Ninjas, international conspiracies, motorbike chases and a lust for vengeance. Don't worry about plot holes and non sequiturs, let the action carry you along. A feel of Akira and Blade Runner in the production design helps. Directed by Robert Schwentke, written by Evan Spillotopoulos. 6/10.

In cinemas.
6/10 sounds like a slightly above average action adventure, not a good one.
And plot holes are a must miss in my book.
 
Reminiscence: SF Noir which has touches of both Blade Runner and Body Heat (1981). The voice over by Nick (High Jackman) gives it the hard blown PI style, while NIck isn't a detective he does fall for a femme fatale. He utilises technology, Reminiscence, which allows clients to (vividly) relive specific memories, he supplies psychological prompts while his partner Emily (Thandwie Newton) operates the machinery. They are both veterans and through elided comments we learn of their war experiences, Nick was an interrogator using reminiscence indeed they both work on occasion for the DA. This all takes place in a future flooded Miami with a side visit to an equally inundated New Orleans. The war was fought over cthe effects of climate change, immigration, land and resources. One day Mae (Rebecca Ferguson walks into the Nick and Emily's business, supposedly wanting to retrieve a mundane memory, this sets Nick off on a path where he and Emily will battle drug pushers, property speculators and murderers. Indeed Nick becomes his own best customer reliving his time with Mae. A wonderfully imagined submerged Miami with a true Noir feel both to the action/narrative and the production design. Some great shootouts and chases. A heart rending Noir love story in a futuristic setting. Written and Directed by Lisa Joy. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
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Marvel had a surprise hit this weekend called Shang-chi bringing in 90 million in the U.S. and 60 million overseas.

Disney hopes their next movie Eternals will be a bigger hit as people seem to return to the theaters.
 
Marvel had a surprise hit this weekend called Shang-chi bringing in 90 million in the U.S. and 60 million overseas.

Disney hopes their next movie Eternals will be a bigger hit as people seem to return to the theaters.

It's pretty good, great action sequences, "mythical" creatures including a Chinese dragon, also a faceless "winged wombat". Review to follow.
 
The Matrix Resurrections trailer, hot off YT:

See they're still going the route of mass murder of people just trying to do their jobs. I watched the original this year, and that bit has not aged well. Otherwise, much as you'd expect.
 
Like many people, after watching The Matrix to death after it was released, I watched the sequels then never watched any of them again. Over the years, folk have said I should give them another go. Apparently, the sequels aren't as terrible when you know what to expect, and they fit pretty well into what we look for in big budget science fiction movies now. Perhaps I'll return to them now they're about to drive the franchise into the dirt once and for all continue the story.
 
Not just about Foundation, also covers Asimov's relationships with Hollywood and TV.

Fire raining down from space onto a planet besieged.

Vast spacecraft erupting in explosions, while desperate soldiers in armored suits pummel each other with the butts of laser rifles. An awe-inspiring display of sweeping vistas rendered with the latest special effects technology: vast cities! Towering idols! Brave stands! Smoldering kisses in steamy pools!

Isaac Asimov had a term for this. “In the movies and television, science fiction deals primarily with images, so we might call it image-science-fiction,” he wrote in 1979. “Since the show-business people and journalists who talk about image-science-fiction refer to it, abominably, as sci-fi, suppose we call image-science-fiction i-sci-fi or, better yet, eye-sci-fi.”

The late grand master, who reserved the more dignified abbreviation “s.f.” for literary science fiction, held out hope that one day, “visual science fiction may graduate from sci-fi to s.f.” Whether the epic spectacular described above will qualify as eye-sci-fi or s.f. would be a matter of particular interest to Asimov: it’s Foundation, the forthcoming Apple TV+ series based on what the trailer describes as Asimov’s own “groundbreaking novels.”

Reverent as that description is, it may not be a promising sign for Asimov fans who know the original Foundation chronicles weren’t novels at all: they were a series of short stories and novellas published between 1942 and 1950, subsequently compiled into three books that became known as “the Foundation trilogy.” Not until the 1980s did Asimov write true Foundation novels, adding four books that expanded the story’s scope. ...

“People have been trying to make Foundation for over 50 years,” said Goyer in a promotional video for the series. He’s not wrong. Despite being, by some measures, the most popular science fiction writer of all time, Asimov has inspired only a short and quirky filmography that’s mediocre at best and often downright abysmal. Goyer is up against a conundrum that’s bedeviled would-be adapters for the better part of a century: despite being a highly accessible author whose work is full of big and exciting ideas, Asimov’s simply not cinematic. ...

https://lithub.com/will-the-foundation-series-finally-do-justice-to-the-novels-of-isaac-asimov/
 
Anyone tried Y: The Last Man? I saw the first episode, and yes, you could tell they'd had a job adapting it (twenty years of culture wars in the making!) but I thought it was interesting enough. Terrible review in The Guardian, one of those "why is this not what I think it should be and not what it is?" complaints, but I found it quite promising. Will try and watch another episode tonight to see if it's worth sticking with.
 
Not just about Foundation, also covers Asimov's relationships with Hollywood and TV.

Fire raining down from space onto a planet besieged.

Vast spacecraft erupting in explosions, while desperate soldiers in armored suits pummel each other with the butts of laser rifles. An awe-inspiring display of sweeping vistas rendered with the latest special effects technology: vast cities! Towering idols! Brave stands! Smoldering kisses in steamy pools!

Isaac Asimov had a term for this. “In the movies and television, science fiction deals primarily with images, so we might call it image-science-fiction,” he wrote in 1979. “Since the show-business people and journalists who talk about image-science-fiction refer to it, abominably, as sci-fi, suppose we call image-science-fiction i-sci-fi or, better yet, eye-sci-fi.”

The late grand master, who reserved the more dignified abbreviation “s.f.” for literary science fiction, held out hope that one day, “visual science fiction may graduate from sci-fi to s.f.” Whether the epic spectacular described above will qualify as eye-sci-fi or s.f. would be a matter of particular interest to Asimov: it’s Foundation, the forthcoming Apple TV+ series based on what the trailer describes as Asimov’s own “groundbreaking novels.”

Reverent as that description is, it may not be a promising sign for Asimov fans who know the original Foundation chronicles weren’t novels at all: they were a series of short stories and novellas published between 1942 and 1950, subsequently compiled into three books that became known as “the Foundation trilogy.” Not until the 1980s did Asimov write true Foundation novels, adding four books that expanded the story’s scope. ...

“People have been trying to make Foundation for over 50 years,” said Goyer in a promotional video for the series. He’s not wrong. Despite being, by some measures, the most popular science fiction writer of all time, Asimov has inspired only a short and quirky filmography that’s mediocre at best and often downright abysmal. Goyer is up against a conundrum that’s bedeviled would-be adapters for the better part of a century: despite being a highly accessible author whose work is full of big and exciting ideas, Asimov’s simply not cinematic. ...

https://lithub.com/will-the-foundation-series-finally-do-justice-to-the-novels-of-isaac-asimov/
Apple TV? Won’t be watching.
 
Babylon 5 reboot in development

‘Babylon 5’ Reboot in Development at The CW From Original Series Creator J. Michael Straczynski​


A “Babylon 5” reboot is in development at The CW, Variety has learned.
Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski is onboard to write the project. He will also executive producer under his Studio JMS banner. Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series, will produce the reboot.
The new iteration of the sci-fi series is described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot.” In the series, John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.



Sheridan was played by Bruce Boxleitner in the original series, with the ensemble cast also including Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, and Richard Briggs. At this time, none of the original series stars are attached to the project.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/
 
Is there anything more to be said with Babylon 5? They were really pushing it even at 5 seasons. Also, sadly a lot of the cast has died since.
 
Oats Studios: Series of SF, Fantasy and bizarre short, films. Rakka: Earth is invaded by reptilian aliens, mankind enslaved, experimented on. Aliens cause global warming and ocean level rises. Change atmosphere to suit themselves. Sigourney Weaver leads the fightback! Firebase: an alternative Vietnam in 1970, a powerful being is attacking both US and Viet Cong forces, altering time, gravity, reality. A lucky soldier is picked to fight the entity. More ... Great CGI effects, extremely violent and gory. Good to see Weaver back kicking Alien ass! Showrunner, Director/Writer Neil Blomkamp. On Netflix. 8/10.
 
Voyagers (2021)

A Sky Original movie featuring a generation ship leaving Earth to seek a new habitable planet.
When the last adult is killed, the privileged and genetically selected youngsters split into factions and become increasingly feral, against the background of a possible monster on board.
Sound a bit familiar?
Yes. It is basically Lord of the Flies in Space.
It's competently executed and looks terrific in UHD, but the lack of originality will grate a bit.
5/10.
 
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