Just working to catch up with a quick share...
I am in low power mode: grading Hell.
Scalzi is tagged here because some of the episodes are adaptations of his work:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/03/15/love-death-and-robots-now-streaming-on-netflix/
I’m still off on a cruise (which has been going swimmingly, thank you very much), but I would be remiss if I didn’t make you aware that Love, Death and Robots, David Fincher and Tim Miller’s brand-spanking-new animated series, is now up on Netflix for your streaming pleasure — and also, if you watch the segments “Three Robots,” “When the Yogurt Took Over,” and “Alternate Histories,” you may notice my name in the credits. Why? Because they’re based on short stories I’ve written, that’s why. I’m deeply pleased about this.
I’ll talk more about the segments and how I got involved with the series probably on Monday, when I’m back on land and caught up on everything, so for now let me just say I hope you enjoy Love, Death and Robots in a general sense and my segments in particular. Also, a reminder that the series as a whole is TV-MA (equivalent to a hard R for you film buffs), so you may want to wait until you are not at work to watch it (for my bits, “Yogurt” and “Robots” are PG-13ish, and “Alternate Histories” is a solid R). Hey! Animation for grown ups! Who knew it was a thing.
https://www.wired.com/story/love-death-and-robots-review/
LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS AND THE RISE OF NSFW NETFLIX
IF YOU HAVEN'T figured it out by the time you see a young Hitler being fellated by a Viennese sex worker, Love, Death & Robots isn't your average Netflix show.
Of course, if you haven't figured it out, you probably haven't been paying attention: "Alternate Histories," which features said act being performed upon said icon of evil, is the 17th of 18 episodes in the animated anthology. By that point, you'll have seen full frontal nudity (male, female, and demonic); you'll also have seen a zero-G rendition of 127 Hours that deserves every Foley Art award possible, plentiful crushed heads, and even more plentiful arcing ichorous spews, and a sex scene that looks like the result of Cinemax becoming a game developer. You may not want to watch with your youth group leader is all I'm saying.
The anthology, from a team of executive producers that includes David Fincher and Deadpool director Tim Miller, is a viscerally enjoyable (and just plain visceral) conflagration of the senses. It does a great many things very well, a few not so well, and takes absolutely nothing seriously. But most importantly, it signals that Netflix isn't just paying lip service to the spirit of experimentation. The more naked and gleaming the streaming platform is willing to become, the more urgent its programming will be—and the better it will withstand the coming challenges brought by its competitors.
Netflix's push into gleeful prurience began in earnest in 2017, with the tweens-in-crisis animated comedy Big Mouth. Masturbation jokes and talking pubic hair were only the beginning: the next year, anime Devilman Crybaby evolved to hentai-inflected hardcore sex and ultraviolence. Yet both were episodic series; if you were in them, you were in them for the long haul. Love, Death & Robots carves out entirely new ground, its aesthetic and tonal diversity offering up a dip-in approach. You can watch from the beginning, certainly—opener "Sonnie's Edge" frames an underground fight club as a conduit for cathartic vengeance, and "Three Robots" cleanses the palate with sardonic droids—or you can choose based on an episode's look and log line.
Because episodes range from six to 17 minutes, you can watch a handful in the time that it would take to watch a single installment of any other show, and there's much to enjoy. Most of the episodes adapt science-fiction and horror short stories from the likes of John Scalzi (three episodes derive from his work, including "Alternate Histories" and "Three Robots") and Joe Lansdale (two episodes). While some marry perfectly with their director—like Oliver Thomas' 2D take on "Good Hunting," Ken Liu's steampunk tale of objectification and redemption, or Jon Yeo's adaptation of Claudine Griggs' "Helping Hand"—others fall into a sea of generic videogame-engine photorealism, turning otherwise compelling source material into an extended cutscene. (Even if, as in "Beyond the Aquila Rift," certain carnal moments are destined to be rewatched more than Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.)
Depending on the order you watch them, you may find yourself frustrated by what feels like an endless parade of stoic supermen and the women who deceive or escape them. Miller has called the show a "love letter to nerds," and at times it feels as though he's aiming at a particularly retrograde subset of genre fans. But sequence the show yourself, and you'll find an endlessly inventive wellspring of ideas and visuals. (One suggested order can be found below.)
Genre television has exploded in recent years, especially on deep-pocketed streaming services, and there's much more to come. This is a world that historically has had to make due with small budgets and smaller expectations, but now success has bred a spirit of abandon—and that abandon can now find outlet beyond midnight movies and animation festivals. It's a relationship that benefits creators and viewers, especially those looking to shake up their prestige TV watching. Not everything needs to be The Crown or Russian Doll.
Sometimes, you just want to see Adolf Hitler suffocated by a giant mound of gelatin.
A Suggested (Supremely Unscientific) Episode Order
"The Witness": A breathtakingly original work from director/writer Alberto Mielgo.
"When the Yogurt Took Over": Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres (who collaborated on Trollhunters) directing from a John Scalzi story
"Suits": Farmer-piloted mechs versus interdimensional beasties in the heartland.
"Ice Age": Tim Miller's lone directed episode, starring Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in a live-action-heavy adaptation of Michael Swanwick's 1984 short story. If you liked Lisa Simpson's "Treehouse of Horror" science project, you'll love this.
"Helping Hand": A lone astronaut makes a desperate choice.
"Good Hunting": Oliver Thomas' version of a Ken Liu steampunk tale.
"Three Robots": Scalzi's eulogy for humanity, delivered via deadpan robots.
"Blindspot": If Speed Racer teamed up with Furiosa to pull off a Fury Road heist.
"Beyond the Aquila Rift": A space crew wakes up from cryo-sleep to find they've gone way, way off course.
"Alternative History": Watch Hitler die in increasingly ridiculous ways. (Including, yes, being "fornicated to death.")
"Sonnie's Edge": Vengeance in a fight club.
"Fish Night": From Joe Lansdale's horror oddity.
"The Dump": Short, silly, and terribly scented.
"Sucker of Souls": Another reason I'll never be an archaeologist.
"The Secret War": Evil lurks behind the Iron Curtain.
"Lucky 13": Samira Wiley (Orange Is the New Black) stars in this adaptation of a Marko Kloos military sci-fi story.
"Zima Blue": The second of two Alastair Reynolds adaptations, after "Beyond the Aquila Rift."
"Shape-Shifters": Another Kloos story.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1903.16 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1351 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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