Gravity Falls (only seen season 1, probably wont watch the second one)
not bad, but a lot of the criticism I gave to over the garden wall also applies to this
This is a episodic kid friendly mistery TV show about a brother and a sister that spends their summer in a summer camp full of weird magical creatures
The premise isn't anything new, half of kids show take the format of a summer vacation, mainly becaause it plays into the fantasy children actually have, kids like summer vacation and making the protagonist not have any sort of responsability gives a lot of creative freedom
However, while this has a mistery setting, there really isn't any sort of mistery anywhere in the show, there is no ovearching plot and half of the chapters don't have a mistery to begin with, it's more about the vibe of watching amistery than actually watching one, however, (most of) the chapters aren't completely braindead like other shows such as steven universe.
I say most of beause there are some chapters which are very, very bad, and it all comes from this philosophy that everything must end how it started, the characters can't develop in any sort of way, so for example, in chapter 19, the penultimate chapter of the show, dipper acts in a way TOTALLY CONTRARY to how he acted the previous episode (and honestly the entire show) and completely disregarding the lessons he learnt from some older episodes, but, if we stop to think about it, it does make sense
think back to you as a kid watching tv. Did you watch all of the episodes of everything in order?, no, you did not, you picked the show halfway through, dropped it, then watched some repeats, maybe after 8 chapters you finally saw the first, etc. The story NEEDS to go back to the original form for their target audience to actually keep track of the show, that's why they cant have an overaching plot or make it non episodic.
My real problem with this is the same problem I pointed out in over the garden wall, the comedy actually undermines the writing and make the whole thing worse because of it
most of the jokes are very predictible and very, very dumb, which doesn't fit at all with what the show is trying to do in my opinion. It has a lot of "oh wow I hope bad thing doesn't happen rn" and then that bad thing just happens. But worse is the "uhhh you acutally do this regulary" jokes, where they claim a character usually does somethign that has never actually happen in the show and then they cut to a flashback of that character doing that thing
If you're trying to sell that mistery aura, making jokes like that is just saying you don't trust the viewer, we don't expect you to remember this thing that happened last episode or even 5 minutes ago, we must show both things at once.
So what's the value in watching shows like this?, you're not watching anything new, everything that this shows has to offer has already been doen better in other shows, it's enjoyable but only if you have been infected by the fandom or have no point of reference to which compare this show to. The only reason anyone would ever watch it to understand the cultural phenomenom behind it, and that is why I watched it
Watching this show I had a feeling of "this seems like Twin Peaks but suited for children", but then I realized I had actually never watched twin peaks, so after the first season finished I just started watching twin peaks. Just finished chapter 1 like 30 minutes ago, and it's just a WAY more enjoyable experience for me
Some people may claim that comparing a disney cartoon to what is considered one of the best tv shows of all time is an unfair comparasion, and while there is some truth to that (they aim for different audiences), I don't think that the criticism is valid
While on a industry/econoical level they're completely different beasts, you as a human being shouldn't care too much about that, the reality is that you have a limited ammount of time, and you can either invest that time into watching gravity falls or twin peaks. Something being in the top of their field doesn't matter if that is still less worth it than something else.
I've given this show a lot of shit, but I actually do believe it's on the higher echelon of cartoons, still D tier tho.
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been reading house of leaves, i'm still fairly early on the book but i'm enjoying it, I will just take a while until I finish it
not bad, but a lot of the criticism I gave to over the garden wall also applies to this
This is a episodic kid friendly mistery TV show about a brother and a sister that spends their summer in a summer camp full of weird magical creatures
The premise isn't anything new, half of kids show take the format of a summer vacation, mainly becaause it plays into the fantasy children actually have, kids like summer vacation and making the protagonist not have any sort of responsability gives a lot of creative freedom
However, while this has a mistery setting, there really isn't any sort of mistery anywhere in the show, there is no ovearching plot and half of the chapters don't have a mistery to begin with, it's more about the vibe of watching amistery than actually watching one, however, (most of) the chapters aren't completely braindead like other shows such as steven universe.
I say most of beause there are some chapters which are very, very bad, and it all comes from this philosophy that everything must end how it started, the characters can't develop in any sort of way, so for example, in chapter 19, the penultimate chapter of the show, dipper acts in a way TOTALLY CONTRARY to how he acted the previous episode (and honestly the entire show) and completely disregarding the lessons he learnt from some older episodes, but, if we stop to think about it, it does make sense
think back to you as a kid watching tv. Did you watch all of the episodes of everything in order?, no, you did not, you picked the show halfway through, dropped it, then watched some repeats, maybe after 8 chapters you finally saw the first, etc. The story NEEDS to go back to the original form for their target audience to actually keep track of the show, that's why they cant have an overaching plot or make it non episodic.
My real problem with this is the same problem I pointed out in over the garden wall, the comedy actually undermines the writing and make the whole thing worse because of it
most of the jokes are very predictible and very, very dumb, which doesn't fit at all with what the show is trying to do in my opinion. It has a lot of "oh wow I hope bad thing doesn't happen rn" and then that bad thing just happens. But worse is the "uhhh you acutally do this regulary" jokes, where they claim a character usually does somethign that has never actually happen in the show and then they cut to a flashback of that character doing that thing
If you're trying to sell that mistery aura, making jokes like that is just saying you don't trust the viewer, we don't expect you to remember this thing that happened last episode or even 5 minutes ago, we must show both things at once.
So what's the value in watching shows like this?, you're not watching anything new, everything that this shows has to offer has already been doen better in other shows, it's enjoyable but only if you have been infected by the fandom or have no point of reference to which compare this show to. The only reason anyone would ever watch it to understand the cultural phenomenom behind it, and that is why I watched it
Watching this show I had a feeling of "this seems like Twin Peaks but suited for children", but then I realized I had actually never watched twin peaks, so after the first season finished I just started watching twin peaks. Just finished chapter 1 like 30 minutes ago, and it's just a WAY more enjoyable experience for me
Some people may claim that comparing a disney cartoon to what is considered one of the best tv shows of all time is an unfair comparasion, and while there is some truth to that (they aim for different audiences), I don't think that the criticism is valid
While on a industry/econoical level they're completely different beasts, you as a human being shouldn't care too much about that, the reality is that you have a limited ammount of time, and you can either invest that time into watching gravity falls or twin peaks. Something being in the top of their field doesn't matter if that is still less worth it than something else.
I've given this show a lot of shit, but I actually do believe it's on the higher echelon of cartoons, still D tier tho.
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been reading house of leaves, i'm still fairly early on the book but i'm enjoying it, I will just take a while until I finish it
