Author Topic: What if?... ***Spoilers***  (Read 2167 times)

Offline Chris

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What if?... ***Spoilers***
« on: July 12, 2021, 11:23:03 AM »
Just getting ready for the next show.

I'm looking forward to this one.  The animation quality looks good. 

I've also always liked the premise of What if/Elseworlds where they can explore stories that aren't canon.

Offline mark

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2021, 11:51:16 AM »
Was both great and said to hear Chadwick Boseman's voice in the trailer.

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #2 on: Today at 11:04:00 AM »

Offline Chris

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2021, 05:58:27 PM »
Random thoughts:

--LOVE the animation style and quality.

--I miss Steve Rogers. However, if Chris Evans is hell bent on personally letting me down, I would not object is Marvel uses the multiverse stuff to make Captain Carter part of the main series to fight alongside Sam.

--Hydras base being the Disney castle was great.

--When they had the heroine fighting a tentacle monster in a cartoon, I was thinking careful marvel, this isn't hentai.

--I really hope folks give this a chance since it is animated.

--Waaaaaaay back when, young Chris and his friend were talking about how the shield was lame as compared to Wolvie's claws.  Boy were we wrong.

Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2021, 12:34:54 PM »
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Random thoughts:

--LOVE the animation style and quality.

--I miss Steve Rogers. However, if Chris Evans is hell bent on personally letting me down, I would not object is Marvel uses the multiverse stuff to make Captain Carter part of the main series to fight alongside Sam.

--Hydras base being the Disney castle was great.

--When they had the heroine fighting a tentacle monster in a cartoon, I was thinking careful marvel, this isn't hentai.

--I really hope folks give this a chance since it is animated.

--Waaaaaaay back when, young Chris and his friend were talking about how the shield was lame as compared to Wolvie's claws.  Boy were we wrong.
Yeah I finally caught up with that first ep. last night and I really liked it: I was kinda legit surprised how good the animation is!  I also watch "The Bad Batch" and the other animated SW series, and the animation in all of the bugs me a little in one way or another (especially early seasons of "The Clone Wars" - not the amazing, stylized 10-20 minutes shorts that aired before REVENGE OF THE SITH, I'm talking about the 30 min. series).  I was bracing myself to be at least a little annoyed w/the animation, but there is A LOT that looks flat-out great: a shot in the prologue that showed Cap's shield in the snow, for example, had incredible looking snow flakes.  Some shots felt rotoscoped from movie stills or whatnot early on when they were 'recreating'/Cap's origins leading into the experiment.  The animation is top-notch, and looked great.

The action was fun, too: particularly some of the storyboarding.  The scene w/Cap Peggy attacking w/HYDRA Buster Steve in the air, where she's going from HYDRA/Nazi plane-to-plane was really cool, with (IIRC), a sequence that felt like one continuous shot for a bit: Captain Peggy Carter bouncing to a plane, smashing through the windscreen to enter, taking out the crew, jumping to the next plane, etc.

I've always _LOVED_ the "What If...." comics BITD, and it's exciting to get to a point with the MCU where there are so many stories where writers can have a lot of fun messing with ideas.  Framing it all within the 'Multiverse' is a clever "in" w/MCU's next huge story/phase of films.  And while we're talking about that, how about Jeffrey Wright as "The Watcher?!"  He's clearly having  a blast with his vignettes, setting up scenarios and whatnot.

This was a lot of fun.  I was excited for the concept anyway, and this first ep. totally exceeded my expectations.  Some of the ep ideas are more 'obvious' than others (the Captain Peggy Carter concept seems like an obvious one, while the Star Lord T'challa is a "didn't think of that one" for me, at least), and I'm looking forward to watching this.  I hope fans get just as excited for this as they do the live-action series so Disney+/Marvel Studios continue making further seasons.  This feels like a really easy way to placate fans wanting content w/not having to go crazy hiring top-of-the-credits A-list movie stars (for example, Steve was not voiced by Chris Evans, though most of the CAPTAIN AMERICA cast returned to do their original characters' voices).

Offline Chris

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2021, 07:24:25 PM »
More random thoughts:

--Again I am impressed by the quality and style of the animation

--Its impressive how many of the actors are involved with the show

--That being said rest in peace, Chadwick Bozeman

--Im going to say something unpopular, but I am not the biggest Guardians fan.  I liked them well enough in the first movie, but they have worn out their welcome with me so this episode didn't resonate as much with me

--I originally thought that each episode would be a stand alone story. If they end up being interconnected, that would be cool

--The costume design for the collector was great

--Nebulas nickname for T'Challa is Cha cha.  Great!

--The pink girl from Guardians 1 lives!  Frodo lives!

--Where the [multiple very, very bad words, not for polite company] was this kind of cartoon when I was a kid?  I demand a refund/do over on my childhood!

Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2021, 08:02:33 PM »
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--Im going to say something unpopular, but I am not the biggest Guardians fan.  I liked them well enough in the first movie, but they have worn out their welcome with me so this episode didn't resonate as much with me

I feel kind of the same way... I found GotG2 mostly disappointing, and Peter Quill gets on my nerves pretty quickly - but because of that I had the opposite reaction to this episode, I loved it. I was really tickled by T'Challa being so much better at being Star Lord that he completely pre-empted Thanos's whole plan, and turned the Ravagers into ACTUAL guardians of the galaxy. While Peter Quill... worked at DQ. Loved it!
« Last Edit: August 20, 2021, 09:15:46 AM by semigeekgirl »

Offline Chris

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2021, 08:51:32 PM »
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I feel kind of the same way... I found GotG2 mostly disappointing, and I'm Peter Quill gets on my nerves pretty quickly - but because of that I had the opposite reaction to this episode, I loved it. I was really tickled by T'Challa being so much better at being Star Lord that he completely pre-empted Thanos's whole plan, and turned the Ravagers into ACTUAL guardians of the galaxy. While Peter Quill... worked at DQ. Loved it!

Totally.  :)

Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2021, 09:09:42 AM »
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--Im going to say something unpopular, but I am not the biggest Guardians fan.  I liked them well enough in the first movie, but they have worn out their welcome with me so this episode didn't resonate as much with me

I think the Guardians of the Galaxy is very much a 'James Gunn'-esque thing.  I'm not a huge fan of most of the comic storylines, but I think Gunn has a very particular way of handling "misfit ensemble cast that is part devious/part good but also with a heart" that I think is incredibly hard for other to nail down.  I honestly don't know how much input he had with INFINITY WAR as far as writing dialogue for the characters.  Remember, after GotG vol. 1/AGE OF ULTRON Gunn was tasked with overseeing all of the MCU films culminating w/the end of the Infinity saga/Avengers movies.  He gave input on a lot of aspects of other movies, but I don't know specifically what/how much and/or what involvement he had with the last two AVENGERS films.  While he was fired a few months after INFINITY WAR, and they did tweak a bit of ENDGAME after he was fired, he obviously could have still had a hand in INFINITY WAR. 
That being said, I'm not a huge Chris Pratt fan: I think he works MUCH better as part of an ensemble (see "Parks and Recreation," ZERO DARK THIRTY) where he doesn't have to carry large chunks of a film as the "jocular goofy guy."  I think Pratt carried the load for GotG vol. 2 well in a more dramatic arc revolving his dad, but he did kind of get on my nerves at times during INFINITY WAR.  But again, I think Gunn handles those characters better than anyone, which is why NO ONE was willing to take the directing gig of GUARDIANS vol. 3 (I heard a rumor from a "friend of a friend" who said Marvel tweaked the ending of ENDGAME to have Thor fly off with the Guardians in order to hopefully sway Taika Waititi into crafting an 'Asguardians of the Galaxy' Thor/Guards mashup sequel, but Waititi still turned it down).


Quote
--Where the [multiple very, very bad words, not for polite company] was this kind of cartoon when I was a kid?  I demand a refund/do over on my childhood!
SERIOUSLY!  In hindsight, being (mostly) a kid of the 1980's, so many animated series I grew up with were little more than 22 minute commercials, with incredibly mediocre (at best) animation.  I dug Transformers, GI Joe, He-man, old school Spider-man, M.A.S.K, and so many other short-lived series that were basically commercials w/crappy production values quickly churned out to sell product.  A lot of that stuff is hard to revisit nowadays.  Heck, I tried to get my seven year old into "Super Friends" on HBO Max (since they don't seem to have "Teen Titans Go!" streaming), and those 45-minute long episodes felt like hours and hours of garbage!  Like, I _LOVED_ that series growing up, and for its time it was what it was.  But yeah: my youngest kid, and even my 19 year old, will never fully realize how lucky they are to be kids in these times!
When I realize my 19 year old was 6 when I took him to see IRON MAN in theaters opening weekend, I have to just smile at how fortuitous they were to grow up in the Age of Marvel.  Heck, ENDGAME and RISE OF SKYWALKER, ending the Skywalker SW saga (supposedly), and the Infinity Saga, came out when they were graduating high school (ENDGAME the summer before, SKYWALKER their senior year)!  Kind of a fun, symbolic way of thinking of the 'end of their childhood' being the "end of Stark & Steve Rogers' Avengers run + the end of the Skywalker saga.

Offline Chris

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2021, 10:52:03 AM »
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I think the Guardians of the Galaxy is very much a 'James Gunn'-esque thing.  I'm not a huge fan of most of the comic storylines, but I think Gunn has a very particular way of handling "misfit ensemble cast that is part devious/part good but also with a heart" that I think is incredibly hard for other to nail down.  I honestly don't know how much input he had with INFINITY WAR as far as writing dialogue for the characters.  Remember, after GotG vol. 1/AGE OF ULTRON Gunn was tasked with overseeing all of the MCU films culminating w/the end of the Infinity saga/Avengers movies.  He gave input on a lot of aspects of other movies, but I don't know specifically what/how much and/or what involvement he had with the last two AVENGERS films.  While he was fired a few months after INFINITY WAR, and they did tweak a bit of ENDGAME after he was fired, he obviously could have still had a hand in INFINITY WAR. 
That being said, I'm not a huge Chris Pratt fan: I think he works MUCH better as part of an ensemble (see "Parks and Recreation," ZERO DARK THIRTY) where he doesn't have to carry large chunks of a film as the "jocular goofy guy."  I think Pratt carried the load for GotG vol. 2 well in a more dramatic arc revolving his dad, but he did kind of get on my nerves at times during INFINITY WAR.  But again, I think Gunn handles those characters better than anyone, which is why NO ONE was willing to take the directing gig of GUARDIANS vol. 3 (I heard a rumor from a "friend of a friend" who said Marvel tweaked the ending of ENDGAME to have Thor fly off with the Guardians in order to hopefully sway Taika Waititi into crafting an 'Asguardians of the Galaxy' Thor/Guards mashup sequel, but Waititi still turned it down).

SERIOUSLY!  In hindsight, being (mostly) a kid of the 1980's, so many animated series I grew up with were little more than 22 minute commercials, with incredibly mediocre (at best) animation.  I dug Transformers, GI Joe, He-man, old school Spider-man, M.A.S.K, and so many other short-lived series that were basically commercials w/crappy production values quickly churned out to sell product.  A lot of that stuff is hard to revisit nowadays.  Heck, I tried to get my seven year old into "Super Friends" on HBO Max (since they don't seem to have "Teen Titans Go!" streaming), and those 45-minute long episodes felt like hours and hours of garbage!  Like, I _LOVED_ that series growing up, and for its time it was what it was.  But yeah: my youngest kid, and even my 19 year old, will never fully realize how lucky they are to be kids in these times!
When I realize my 19 year old was 6 when I took him to see IRON MAN in theaters opening weekend, I have to just smile at how fortuitous they were to grow up in the Age of Marvel.  Heck, ENDGAME and RISE OF SKYWALKER, ending the Skywalker SW saga (supposedly), and the Infinity Saga, came out when they were graduating high school (ENDGAME the summer before, SKYWALKER their senior year)!  Kind of a fun, symbolic way of thinking of the 'end of their childhood' being the "end of Stark & Steve Rogers' Avengers run + the end of the Skywalker saga.

When I watch Infinity War now, I skip the Guardians parts other the Thor's conversation with Rocket which is great and the movie gets immediately better in my eyes.

Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2021, 12:12:51 PM »
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I feel kind of the same way... I found GotG2 mostly disappointing, and Peter Quill gets on my nerves pretty quickly - but because of that I had the opposite reaction to this episode, I loved it. I was really tickled by T'Challa being so much better at being Star Lord that he completely pre-empted Thanos's whole plan, and turned the Ravagers into ACTUAL guardians of the galaxy. While Peter Quill... worked at DQ. Loved it!
I was legit watching this like a dummy thinking "when is T'Challa going to get into shenanigans" for the first mins before thinking "oooooooh: Star Lord and the GotG are actually Guardians/protectors/good guys of the Galaxy!"  :P
And the fact the Ravagers were joking with Thanos about his plans = the chef's kiss cherry on top (which I guess makes 'Quill-as-DQ-counter jockey' the hot fudge on top of the cherry on top, because that was a great episode-ender, complete w/Ego/Kurt Russell no less!!!)

What a fun episode!

Offline Michaelnaut

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2021, 01:47:47 PM »
Ok, who raises the volume on the Marvel fanfare intro at the beginning of each of these episodes? *raises hand*
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Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2021, 05:16:27 PM »
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Ok, who raises the volume on the Marvel fanfare intro at the beginning of each of these episodes? *raises hand*
I'm an unabashed Michael Giacchino fan boy.  I've gotten to meet him a few times, at 'formal' signings and 'in the wild' and he's always incredibly nice and talkative about music (FWIW I'm a music teacher who has some mutual acquaintances of his).  But of course, I adore just about everything he does, and the Marvel Fanfare is no different!  EVERY time I hear that before a Disney+ series ep I'm watching for the first time I can't not laugh like a dopey kid, excited to see new Marvel stuff!  While I've no doubt Danny Elfman will rock the Doctor Strange sequel soundtrack for Sam Raimi, I'm a bit bummed that Giacchino won't be returning (though I of course am looking forward to his NO WAY HOME Spidey score!!)

Offline Chris

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2021, 05:35:58 PM »
General remarks x3:

--Its a little awkward seeing Black Widow in the show given the current lawsuit.  Its like my parents are fighting.

--That being said, her speed Indiana Jones punches are cool.

--Dood. Retrocasting Ruffalo in Hulk.  More awkward.  Mom and dad are still fighting...

--Hulk went Akira.

Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2021, 08:59:30 AM »
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General remarks x3:

--Its a little awkward seeing Black Widow in the show given the current lawsuit.  Its like my parents are fighting.

--That being said, her speed Indiana Jones punches are cool.

--Dood. Retrocasting Ruffalo in Hulk.  More awkward.  Mom and dad are still fighting...

--Hulk went Akira.
Yeah the Ruffalo retconning feels like a naturally good idea, but discombobulating (slightly) in-the-moment.  Of course, to my 7 year old who only knows Ruffalo as Hulk, it was normal (I don't own THE INCREDIBLE HAWK on blu-ray, and it's not on Disney+ so I think that's the only MCU movie he's not seen)

Offline perc2100

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Re: What if?... ***Spoilers***
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2021, 12:06:33 PM »
Wow that 4th ep. got dark, huh?!  I was thinking the "most of the original Avengers get killed" ep 3 was going to be the pinnacle of darkness for "What If..." but nope!  ???

FWIW I dug it.  I like when Doctor Strange gets weird so this was mostly "fun" for me