While not perfect (what is?), the new short is a really nice marking of the anniversary, and very cool to see it on today of all days. Lovely, too, to see Burny Mattinson in the opening, and the use of original sound for many of the voices, even if a few of the characters are really off-model here and there. I have a few "problems" with it looking a bit too "clean", and the oh-so-very-almost-close-to-being-emotional Walt moment was just a little rushed (a "happy anniversary, Walt", or "sir", would have been the kicker), but it got more right than "wrong". If anything, it felt a little rushed, but then it was put together in eight months or so.
As for the naming the characters video, nice of him to do it, but a shame he doesn’t have better info, missing out the obvious Chernabog completely and calling John Henry "Big John" from the short Big John…!? A couple of others are also misnamed (The Rescuers' Orville is mixed up for Wilbur from the sequel) or mispronounced, but that was quite a task, so kudos for the attempt.
While not "exceptional", it’s nice that they did something, and have done it pretty well.
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Loki – Episode 4 (Season 2)
Goosebumps – Episode 7
Big City Greens – New Episodes (Season 4)
Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge
Primal Survivor: Extreme African Safari
Explorer: Lake Of Fire
Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red
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Praise Petey – Season 1
What We Do In The Shadows – Season 5
Oh, Shadows is still going then? I stated to give up during Season 3, and not sure I even bothered or made it enough S4, mainly due to the increasing number of unneeded and unnecessary f-bombs in every other sentence. It’s not that it can get overpowering, it’s just that it quickly gets boring, especially when being utilised for cheap laughs or, worse, as a replacement for where there is no comedy. After a fine, funny, film and first series, it dived fast.
Interesting to see how Iger "pays" for this. Either content spend will be down, or he’ll seriously mull the ABC sale, which I think would be a shame and a kneejerk reaction that, like Miramax, will be lamentable in the longterm.
If you take the ABC and the D from Disney, you get ABCD, which is fun. You can add another division and start off a whole alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, S, P, N…
Sale is in jan and disney is not expected to get it so cheap as they want. The lower price is disneys bid and comcast has already said heck no. Disney will be paying more for hulu. However, looks like comcast will allow disney to start taking control of hulu pre sale so disney could be controlling what's on hulu before next year! But they don't own it yet.
Didn’t say they already had it, but it’s a done deal. It’s accepted that they will pay *at least* 8.6bn, depending on final figures, but they already control it and will take full ownership in Jan, to which Comcast is in agreement to.
It’s already part of D+ here, so interesting to see if they change "Star" around the world to Hulu, or change Hulu to Star in the US, as they won’t want to keep having to create twice the promos for one show. Hulu has no brand name outside the US, so it makes more sense to say "Hulu is now Star" in new promos, but I could also see it going the other way…
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Loki – Episode 5 (Season 2)
Goosebumps – Episode 8
The Incredible Dr. Pol
The Three Detectives
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony
Behind The Attraction – Season 2
Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song
Marvel Studios Legends
Spider-Man: Far From Home
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The Simpsons – Season 34
The Prank Panel
Solar Opposites – Season 4
The Quiz Lady
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Loki – Episode 6/Finale (Season 2)
Goosebumps – Episode 9
The Santa Clauses – 2 Episodes (Season 2)
JFK: One Day In America
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 3
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Culprits
Killer Vacation
World War II: Secrets From Above
Jingle All The Way 2
In what kind of way? As in "the whole series is worth watching to get to that episode" kind of way, or "it’s not worth it, just check out that ep" way?
Honestly, I enjoyed the last episode of Loki as well. But it did make Episodes 2-5 feel like filler. And truthfully I still have no idea what the bigger story was for this season. There's almost a case to be made to jump straight from the S1 finale to the S2 finale and you really wouldn't lose anything BUT Episode 1 of S2 does need to be viewed so you don't sit there wondering who that is (assuming of course you watched the end credits seen from Quantumania) or how/why Loki can do what he does in the finale.
And if it's the end of Tom' being Loki it is a good send off for his character
As a slight disclaimer, I enjoyed the first season of Loki, overall.
IMO, this second season is a bit of a mixed bag .. in that it seems to simultaneously feel a bit lower-budget than the first (it certainly has a tighter story scope, and smaller cast) .. even as it challenges the viewer to pay a bit more attention, due to some decidedly non-linear storytelling, at times.
It actually feels a bit like watching a latter-day Doctor Who series, in some portions .. lots of chases in tight corridors & alleyways! And there's many wonderful nods to time-travel tropes seen in Back to the Future, Bill &Ted's Excellent Adventure and Groundhog Day .. particularly in the last two episodes.
But that finale episode .. especially the climax .. yeah; Tom Hiddleston was 'gifted' a sequence worthy of all the emotion and payoff value of Tony Stark's 'snap' scene in Endgame .. and he completely nailed it.
The arc of his Loki character within the MCU -- from Thor through the Avengers, and both seasons of this series .. to this (final?) moment -- is every bit as satisfying as what Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans achieved, with their characters. Again, IMHO.
Owen Wilson likewise gets an opportunity to give his character some payoff/closure, in the final episode .. and, of course, Ke Huy Quan is absolutely captivating, throughout the series. Jonathan Majors is also quite enteraining, in his dual roles.
The second episode ("1893") has a truly great variant of the opening Marvel logo .. that has to be seen and heard; a description would do it no justice!
The finale also serves as a 'fantastic' tribute to Walter Simonson -- who created the 'Time Variance Authority' during his run on Fantastic Four, and shepherded Loki during his legendary Thor comic book run.
It also could potentially close-off the 'Multiversal War/Kang the Conqueror' storyline .. should MCU choose to go that route.
Last edited by droosan on November 11th, 2023, 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I feel much better about Loki s2e1-4 after seeing e5-6. I even told my wife that there was no way they could wrap the story up well with one episode left and I absolutely eat my words.
Natalie Holt's score these two seasons have been so so good.
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