Totally Random

I’m watching ghost in the shell too, not entertaining so far

Don't be spoiling, I'm about to press PLAY.

I liked the original animated version especially when I first saw it. It may look a little dated now with the lens flares and rotoscoping, but the artwork was very exciting and inspiring at the time and I have high hopes for the movie. No disappointment, please. Not yet.

*PLAY*

Haven't seen either version yet... I guess that's on the bucket list. Or is that pail list... play list?

Turns out Swedish TV is now showing the last season of True Blood. From 2014. Seriously, they're behind. And they air it at 2 am and 1.15 am (rerun) respectively. Good thing I can watch it online as well...

Now that the credits have scrolled up I can say that I enjoyed most of that film. It looked lovely, they did a great job of creating the world, and for two-thirds of the film I wasn't too disappointed with the changes. Yes, I missed the Puppet Master and the deeper philosophy, but the stuff about the Major's identity kept me intrigued, especially that great midpoint scene with the bad guy. Loved his voice!
But that ending seemed a little cheesy and came too soon.
Will definitely watch again and it'll keep me going until I eventually get to see the new Bladerunner.

I gave up on True Blood pretty quickly. I tend to like my vampires to be more old fashioned like Dracula/Nosferatu. Although I did like the early episodes of The Strain before they spoilt The Master with an unnecessary reveal.

I watched all the previous seasons of True Blood so I am looking forward to being able to see "the end". Even if it's a bit like a daytime drama where everyone's been involved with everyone and Sookie still dresses like she's 15.

I like the Strain too. Never was a fan of "the master" - he always seemed too dissimilar to any of the other strigoi, including those "elders" or whatever they were called. Again a series where some characters have been with all the other characters but... what the heck. I'd still like to know how that story ends. I prefer vamps to be more like the strigoi too, and not all nice and cute and cuddly.

Might get around to reading the book(s?) some day. (The Strain ones, not the Sookie ones.)

I saw Ghost in The Shell when it first came out on Sky as pay to view. I'd been extremely excited about it and on the whole I thought it didn't dissappoint. Visually I thought it was stunning - especially the opening sequence but I agree it was light on a lot of the underlying philosophy and themes of the original.
Haven't seen Bladerunner though I am a huge fan of the first movie and again it has been paired down significantly from the book. But thats fine by me - it's a reworking of the same basic themes to fit a different medium.
I did read the follow on novels by K.W. Jeter and felt they were more of a continuation of the movie than the original book. Does anyone know if Jeters books have anything to do with the new movie?

I always thought that the first Bladerunner movie had much more depth than the original story. But PKD's work was frequently hit-and-miss with great ideas explored in rather unorthodox ways that sometimes seemed flimsy and dated. But I didn't even know that there were some follow-on novels to Bladerunner. I'll have to see if my library has them.
Speaking of PKD, did you watch the recent Electric Dreams series? I thought it was mostly good (apart from the pig-people episode) and I liked the way they kept the open endings.

I still kept watching The Strain too even though it diminished somewhat, but unlike you, Charlotte, I wanted The Master to look even more different.
If you're gonna hide his face for ten episodes then I don't expect him to be a variation of the design you've already seen in episode one. And then they replaced him with that silly rock star guy!?
And I haven't read those books either. I did once see one in the library but when I picked it up I realised it wasn't the first one of the series.
I hate it when that happens!

well I'm one of those people who hoard books and never use the library (I have my own by now!) but I think I complained a couple of years ago or so that I'd bought a book that turned out to be part of a series. It might have been the first part, I can't recall, but as I'd scoured the front and back and some of the inside pages for info on sequels because I wanted a stand alone book, I was still rather miffed. And the book was bad, too

Charlotte wrote: Haven't seen either version yet... I guess that's on the bucket list. Or is that pail list... play list?

The sequel (to the animated film) Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is also worth a look. Make sure you don't confuse it with Ghost in the Shell 2.0 which is actually a re-release version of the original film re-edited/re-coloured, with a load of additional and unnecessary CG.

(it's all just to much for little old me )