I’m feeling a little exhausted this week, so I thought I would showcase trailers for some upcoming TV shows and movies that my wife and I are looking forward to, in (mostly) no particular order. Also, after blogging about the Stumptown comics the other week, I must let everyone know that the TV series is great. Check out the scene from the second episode posted above, and I really recommend checking out the show on Wednesdays on ABC.
Coming up tonight (as this is posted): the premiere of the second and final season of Star Wars Resistance.
If I’m honest, it took a bit for me to really warm up to the first season. I had so completely loved Star Wars Rebels, the last Star Wars animated series, and I really wanted more of the same. The more I watched, the more I came to enjoy this one, and by the end I really loved it.
I wrote in my last post about how much I enjoyed the Galaxy’s Edge books because they took a look at the Star Wars “universe” and its conflicts from the “man on the street” perspective. This series features more of that; we have characters who are part of the Resistance, but also regular folks who just want to live their lives. And we see how someone—a regular character in the show, someone we’ve come to know—might choose to join the First Order.
Ultimately, this show looks at that conflict from the point of view of a community of people. It’s the first Star Wars series to not feature a Jedi as a central character, and that helps ground it a lot. I’ll be sorry to see this one end, but with more Clone Wars waiting in the wings next spring, I’ll still get my Star Wars TV animation fix. (And I’m sure we wouldn’t have gotten the Rebels epilogue scene we got if there weren’t plans to follow up on that.)
As a long-time Star Trek fan, I really love Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access.
The first season was great, with some surprising twists and turns. The second season was even better, with the addition of Spock and Captain Christopher Pike from the Enterprise (before Kirk was captain). The third season looks like it’s going to continue balancing the central themes of Star Trek with more contemporary styles of television storytelling, and I’m super-excited to see where they take things.
Speaking of Pike, Spock and Number One on the Enterprise, they are the stars of the latest of CBS All Access’s Short Treks: short films filling in the wait until the premiere of the next series.
All the Enterprise stuff from the last season of Discovery really made me hungry for a series featuring that crew, played by those actors, on that ship. Hopefully, that’s something we’ll see in the future, but for now, I’ll settle for this short piece. (It premiered yesterday, as this is posted.)
And then, coming in January… Star Trek: Picard!
When this series was announced, my reaction was excitement for the return of Sir Patrick Stewart as Picard, tempered with questions about what they planned to do with him. The answer, judging from this trailer is: something great!
The obvious, easy route would be to just present more Star Trek adventures with Picard as captain of a starship. I am so pleased that they do not appear to be taking that route. We’ve got plenty of Picard-as-Starfleet-captain stories; this looks like something that is true to the character and the mythology, but also new. Even the appearances by old characters look like they’re bringing something new to the table, rather than just being a reunion show. (Also: Seven of Nine!)
I often hear people complaining about CBS All Access because they frame it in terms of having to pay to see the new Star Trek shows. While it’s true that the new Star Trek shows are on the CBS fee-based streaming service, it’s not fair to CBS to say that they are making people pay for only Star Trek. We are enjoying a number of the other CBS All Access original shows, including the first season of Tell Me a Story. We will definitely be watching the second season.
Marvel’s Runaways is a show that completely lives up to the promise of the source material, and the third season looks to continue that quality.
Plus: Cloak & Dagger!
I read the first two books of His Dark Materials as they came out. (It took some time for the third one to be published, and when it was, I didn’t remember enough details of the first two, so I never got around to reading it after feeling lost during the first chapter. Someday…) This HBO adaptation looks much better than the movie that was made from the first book.
The Kominsky Method on Netflix was a bit of a surprise for us. In fact, my wife wasn’t really hooked until the third episode. Ultimately, it won us over, with some great performances, particularly by Michael Douglas—embracing the fact that he is very much an older actor these days—and Alan Arkin, who may never have really been a younger actor, even when he was younger.
Lost in Space was another Netflix show that we loved, and are pretty excited for the second season. I felt like told a compelling story with compelling characters, with a lot of action, suspense and heart. The second season looks like a fantastic follow-up. And it premieres Christmas Eve!
Meanwhile, the Disney Channel has been producing a number of cartoons that we really like. From Gravity Falls to Star vs the Forces of Evil to Amphibia, it’s been one strong show after another. The Owl House looks to continue that trend.
Finally, I wanted to showcase a couple of movie trailers. First, a little thing called Frozen 2.
I loved the first Frozen movie, and my wife is a Frozen fanatic. As great as that movie was, this looks even better. It really seems like they have broadened out the world, with a deeper range of characters. And they’re not all white: take that, Internet! There’s a particular moment in this trailer, where Elsa tells Anna to stop following her into fire, and Anna replies, “Then stop walking into fire!” that brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. We will be seeing this one opening weekend, I think.
And last—but not least, hopefully—comes the Feast of the Seven Fishes. This is a low-budget independent film that I hadn’t heard about until recently, but which I very much want to see.
It’s written and directed by a filmmaker named Robert Tinnell, who has written a number of graphic novels I’ve really liked. One of his books is the graphic novel of Feast of the Seven Fishes, which came out a number of years ago. I read it at the time, and thought it was great. I’m really looking forward to seeing his film adaptation of his book, plus the cast looks fantastic.
And that’s all I’ve got in me this week. See you in two weeks!
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