TV Stuff 2018

[shapinglight]

Normally this time of year, I'd try and do a post about my fandom activities of the year before, including any fanfic I'd written, but since I wrote no fanfic last year and didn't do anything fannish, there doesn't seem much point. ;)

So here instead is a post about TV stuff I really enjoyed in 2018.

Comments

[frelling_tralk]

I just finished The Marvellous Mrs Maisel recently, and I really enjoyed it as well :)

And I noticed that Buffy was added to Amazon Prime recently (also Angel and Dollhouse interestingly, they seem to have added quite a lot recently, enough that I decided it was worth renewing Prime for another year after wavering for a bit at first). I’m interested to check them out when I have time as they are the HD versions, and while I know that everyone complains about how the original lighting and direction etc has been messed up, I can’t deny being tempted to have a sharper version of the first two seasons to watch. It will be nice to be able to better make out the scenes at night for a start! I swear some scenes, like for example Willow running through the woods in Phases, the quality is so shocking on my DVDs that it’s more like watching a fuzzy video tape

[shapinglight]

It's the HD versions? Really?

Have to admit, I hadn't noticed. The dark scenes still seem pretty dark to me, but I often don't really pay attention to that kind of thing as much as I should. ;)

[frelling_tralk]

I’m pretty sure they are? I’ve skimmed through a few of the early episodes to check, and they look notably brighter and sharper than my DVDs. This page goes over all the comparisons

https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:BuffyHD/What%27s_Wrong_with_Buffy%27s_HD%3F

But I don’t really pay as much attention to that kind of stuff as I should either, I know that a lot of the fandom was absolutely scandalised at things like the colour balance being messed up for certain scenes, but as a not very discerning viewer I just like the thought of being able to better see what I’m watching :P The season 1 and 2 DVDs are *really* bad film quality wise

[shapinglight]

The season 1 and 2 DVDs are *really* bad film quality wise

I agree. They really are.

I haven't got any further yet. Possibly because I'm incapable of missing episodes out when I rewatch, even when I dislike them, and the next up is Teacher's Pet. :(

[shapinglight]

Okay, I've now watched a bit of Teacher's Pet and you're right, I think. It is the HD version. Either that, or it's the extremely bowdlerised version that was showing on the SF channel. I watched the scene where Angel arrives at the Bronze and for some reason that can't possibly be to do with getting DB stripped down as much as possible, can it? takes off his leather jacket and gives it to Buffy. In the original, he's got these big parallel scratches on this arm, which makes Buffy ask him if he was attacked by someone with a giant fork (Fork Guy, in fact). In this version, you don't see his arm at all, so when Buffy says that it makes no sense.

I remember people complaining about things being cut out of shot that made nonsense of certain scenes in the HD version, and I personally find that a lot more annoying than the quality of the film not being very good. Hmm.

On the other hand, if it turns out to be the bowdlerised version, we're not going to see any blood at all. Ever.