I like his reviews, but I'm not fond of the increasingly disturbing "serial killer" thing.
Pissed Off by RedLetterMedia?
- Thread starter TedShatner10
- Start date
Yeah...the poll is incredibly misleading in context to the thread and the slanted options it gives.
It is the same sorta humour from family guy....
There are instances where RedLetterMedia is blatantly intellectually dishonest and sometimes brings forward terrible arguments:
In The Phantom Menace review he goes on for a long time about the Trade Federation landing its ground forces on Naboo and gripping about landing their troop transports on the far side of the planet, thousands of miles away from Naboo's capital. He's not really thinking about military strategy, not taking into account of Theed having a major spaceport housing hundreds of military ships (with the city perhaps equipped with turbo laser emplacements and shield projections, making it more costly for a direct landing from space). And a siege of Naboo does make sense, even if Naboo has advanced technology and a massive power core beneath their capital city - with no supply ships coming to the planet, how could the Naboo fix the high maintenance power cores and more sophisticated factories without spare parts ?
In his review of Nemesis he has a tired, cliche' Nerd Rage about Admiral Janeway, he accuses her of allying with the Borg and shows footage of her executing hostages. In that instance he's being manipulative, I'm not fooled that easily -Janeway is not the most likable captain, but she broke a deal with the Borg because Species 8472 were the greater evil, a clear and present danger to the galaxy, they had to be stopped and even Picard would've done same thing in the same situation. And RLM seems to put up footage of the fake "evil" Janeway from "Living Witness" as primary evidence. Janeway's not particularily dashing, but you don't falsify evidence to incriminate a criminal even if he/she's a criminal.
Those are a couple the bigger reasons why RedLetterMedia is an overrated critic (he's a talented editor, he puts effort into constructing his reviews, and is generally better than ConfusedMatthew and the Distressed Watcher).
In The Phantom Menace review he goes on for a long time about the Trade Federation landing its ground forces on Naboo and gripping about landing their troop transports on the far side of the planet, thousands of miles away from Naboo's capital. He's not really thinking about military strategy, not taking into account of Theed having a major spaceport housing hundreds of military ships (with the city perhaps equipped with turbo laser emplacements and shield projections, making it more costly for a direct landing from space). And a siege of Naboo does make sense, even if Naboo has advanced technology and a massive power core beneath their capital city - with no supply ships coming to the planet, how could the Naboo fix the high maintenance power cores and more sophisticated factories without spare parts ?
In his review of Nemesis he has a tired, cliche' Nerd Rage about Admiral Janeway, he accuses her of allying with the Borg and shows footage of her executing hostages. In that instance he's being manipulative, I'm not fooled that easily -Janeway is not the most likable captain, but she broke a deal with the Borg because Species 8472 were the greater evil, a clear and present danger to the galaxy, they had to be stopped and even Picard would've done same thing in the same situation. And RLM seems to put up footage of the fake "evil" Janeway from "Living Witness" as primary evidence. Janeway's not particularily dashing, but you don't falsify evidence to incriminate a criminal even if he/she's a criminal.
Those are a couple the bigger reasons why RedLetterMedia is an overrated critic (he's a talented editor, he puts effort into constructing his reviews, and is generally better than ConfusedMatthew and the Distressed Watcher).
Not only has he got his own website, but he's being intellectually dishonest... on the internet!
So after all that, why were they invading again?
Which brings up more issues. If Naboo had this great space defense system, how come they didn't go up and attack the Trade Federation when they were trying to land (or before)?
Also, it might be military strategy to land outside of the town, but there are two problems with that.
1) The movie suggested the Trade Federation landed on the opposite side of the planet (Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon needing to go through the planet core is evidence of this). Why not just park a mile or two outside of the town? I guess the point is there was no need to land that far away.
2) If the Trade Federation was that worried about an invasion being costly (well...duh), the question is why? Their troops were robots and they seemed to have an infinite supply of them, especially considering the massive amounts just appeared in the Gungan battle at the end. They can just have them keep coming.
I think the issue was that the invasion was only a day or so long and it was said that people were dying. Also, it begs to reason that if the Naboo people build the power core, they probably have the materials needed to fix it if it breaks. I think the point here was that we never knew what was so vital to the Naboo that this invasion was causing people to die.
While the clip from "Living Witness" is somewhat misleading, I think it was more for humorous effect than anything else.
This.
I know. I'm still deciding who is more pathetic: Mr. 'I'm a feminist' or Nostalgia Critic. I'm leaning towards the latter.
I've seen his review of Attack of the Clones. He brings up a lot of good points (regarding the romance plotline and the characterization of Anakin as a creepy, whiny, petulant prick), but he goes off on strange tangents that I simply go "Really? Of all the things to complain about in this movie, he's ripping apart the Coruscant speeder chase?" I have to admit he had me laughing out loud at points, but his whole thing with the hooker really pushes the edge of good taste.
As for people being angry at him: Why? OK, I could understand finding him tasteless or overly pedantic, but why work yourself up over it?
As for people being angry at him: Why? OK, I could understand finding him tasteless or overly pedantic, but why work yourself up over it?
^ The Attack of the Clones review was somewhat of a let down after the TPM one. He didn't have that much to really say about the film other than the most glaring issues with the film. And there was too much of the psycho-storyline attached to it where as it was only lightly touched upon in the previous reviews.
You have to at least concede that, whether you find RLM funny/insightful or not, at least what they do is fairly original as opposed to other "humor-critics" who mainly just glare at the camera.
You have to at least concede that, whether you find RLM funny/insightful or not, at least what they do is fairly original as opposed to other "humor-critics" who mainly just glare at the camera.
They were attacking and landing troops on the other side of the planet, where Naboo's defences were at its weakest due to the sparse population. It must've been a similar strategy that the Empire used on Hoth, but on a larger scale.
The Empire had a much more impressive navy and army than the Trade Federation, but the Imperial armada could not fire upon the Rebel's base on Hoth due to a theatre shield. Then one of the Star Destroyers launched a full frontal attack on Rebel ships leaving the base, a huge Rebel cannon fired upon and seriously damaged the Imperial vessel. And these were demoralised Rebels in a makeshift basecamp. Naboo was a long established world, with large cities and modern industries, and a standing military, so their defences must've been denser. And they had a larger fighter contingent that would be effective against the large landing craft, and were also shown slipping through the anti-fighter defences of Trade Fed vessels and outfighting Trade Fed droid fighters.
So the Federation kept their fleet back, to maintain the siege, and landed their troops on the far side of Naboo, avoiding Naboo's main skyward aimed defences.
The droid soldiers are disposable units, but they can't have an infinite number, while the ships and vehicles they go around in are going to be more expensive and harder to replace. If the Trade Federation suffer heavy losses, and have most of their landing craft and a few doughnut warships shot down in a full frontal assault on Theed, their invasion plans would get drastically slown down and the siege could be broken.
The occupation must've lasted a couple of weeks at least, with most of the character's time away taken up on Coruscant.
Sio Bibble described the fatalities and hardship of the interned Naboo as "catastrophic", Nute Gunray smugly said Bibble's people were starving, we see dozens of Naboo citizens being hearded away by droid soldiers, and a droid officer mentions camps. It was implied, not shown, since TPM was for family viewing (it was tell not show).
Then why put much stock into all of RLD's arguments if a lot of them are easily demolished strawmen (Janeway's necessary pact with the Borg) or fake propaganda used as a tasteless gag? Janeway's deal with the Borg was taken out of context by RLM, who conveniently left out the part in "Scorpion" where a 8472 creature was viciously attacking the USS Voyager crew, nearly putting Harry Kim in the morgue, and Kes (a very powerful telepath) reading the collective thoughts of Species 8472, learning that Species 8472 would not stop with just the Borg and would purge all "inferior" life in the galaxy.
Last edited:
The thing with the Janeway comment is that it was made in a very off-handed way and it lasted for like 20 seconds. If they went on about it for a lengthy period of time, as they do with the structural problems of the film, then I would agree with you.
As for TPM, landing the troops outside of the town is not a bad idea. It is just the fact that they landed them on the other side of the planet. Did they really need to go that far away? Especially if the planet is that sparsely populated?
And if the Naboo had defenses, how come they didn't utilize them when the invasion force was coming in? They knew they were coming. They could have flown to the other side of the planet if needed. They had plenty of ships and pilots. They didn't have to go into space and fight the blockade; but they could have attacked the ships coming to the planet and had an aerial battle.
Yeah, we were told people were dying. But we never knew why? What was so vital? What makes the stakes so high? What was being cut off that was causing people to die? Or were they just dying because they were being rounded up in camps? Thing is, it is never explained, not even in a throwaway line (which is all that would have been needed).
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy TPM, but the film has several narrative structural problems.
As for TPM, landing the troops outside of the town is not a bad idea. It is just the fact that they landed them on the other side of the planet. Did they really need to go that far away? Especially if the planet is that sparsely populated?
And if the Naboo had defenses, how come they didn't utilize them when the invasion force was coming in? They knew they were coming. They could have flown to the other side of the planet if needed. They had plenty of ships and pilots. They didn't have to go into space and fight the blockade; but they could have attacked the ships coming to the planet and had an aerial battle.
Yeah, we were told people were dying. But we never knew why? What was so vital? What makes the stakes so high? What was being cut off that was causing people to die? Or were they just dying because they were being rounded up in camps? Thing is, it is never explained, not even in a throwaway line (which is all that would have been needed).
Nothing was implied. We were told people are dying, but we were not told why. And just because TPM is a family movie, that does not make it okay to "tell and not show".
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy TPM, but the film has several narrative structural problems.
A
Amaris
Guest
My sentiments exactly.
I think his reviews are pretty damn funny. I enjoy them.
People on the internet have a funny thing when it comes to opinions. It's one thing to fight someone tooth-and-nail on their opinions on things like politics, religion and things of that nature, sure, having a different opinion on much of that stuff is something pretty big to fight on.
But arguing with someone who's wrong on their opinion on some movie or TV series? Come-on! People fight AVGN, Linkara, Spoony, RLM, NC and others on their opinons quite often and insult and nitpick these guys strongly. All because their opinions on some movie is different?
Now, the thing with many of these guys is that for some of them (notably RLM, NC and AVGN) to like thier shows/vlogs you have to like their "characters." And, for me, I really like the AVGN's and NC's characters of "angry young person who swears a lot" because I guess I relate to those most. (Surprised?) My best friend likes them too, but often more the things they're saying and less the characters they are playing, he doesn't find them funny.
RLM is something else entirely. I don't like the "cranky old guy obsessed with pizza rolls" schtick. His "old man voice" is annoying and his reviews are too often intercut with bullshit nonsense (mostly in the form of him murdering/brutalizing women/hookers). I did like his reviews of the Trek movies and SW Prequels and I greatly await his review of Ep3. But I don't like the guy's "character" enough to invest much time in him or make him a "must watch." Give me NC and Spoony any day.
But arguing with someone who's wrong on their opinion on some movie or TV series? Come-on! People fight AVGN, Linkara, Spoony, RLM, NC and others on their opinons quite often and insult and nitpick these guys strongly. All because their opinions on some movie is different?
Now, the thing with many of these guys is that for some of them (notably RLM, NC and AVGN) to like thier shows/vlogs you have to like their "characters." And, for me, I really like the AVGN's and NC's characters of "angry young person who swears a lot" because I guess I relate to those most. (Surprised?) My best friend likes them too, but often more the things they're saying and less the characters they are playing, he doesn't find them funny.
RLM is something else entirely. I don't like the "cranky old guy obsessed with pizza rolls" schtick. His "old man voice" is annoying and his reviews are too often intercut with bullshit nonsense (mostly in the form of him murdering/brutalizing women/hookers). I did like his reviews of the Trek movies and SW Prequels and I greatly await his review of Ep3. But I don't like the guy's "character" enough to invest much time in him or make him a "must watch." Give me NC and Spoony any day.
A
Amaris
Guest
People on the internet have a funny thing when it comes to opinions. It's one thing to fight someone tooth-and-nail on their opinions on things like politics, religion and things of that nature, sure, having a different opinion on much of that stuff is something pretty big to fight on.
But arguing with someone who's wrong on their opinion on some movie or TV series? Come-on! People fight AVGN, Linkara, Spoony, RLM, NC and others on their opinons quite often and insult and nitpick these guys strongly. All because their opinions on some movie is different?
Now, the thing with many of these guys is that for some of them (notably RLM, NC and AVGN) to like thier shows/vlogs you have to like their "characters." And, for me, I really like the AVGN's and NC's characters of "angry young person who swears a lot" because I guess I relate to those most. (Surprised?) My best friend likes them too, but often more the things they're saying and less the characters they are playing, he doesn't find them funny.
RLM is something else entirely. I don't like the "cranky old guy obsessed with pizza rolls" schtick. His "old man voice" is annoying and his reviews are too often intercut with bullshit nonsense (mostly in the form of him murdering/brutalizing women/hookers). I did like his reviews of the Trek movies and SW Prequels and I greatly await his review of Ep3. But I don't like the guy's "character" enough to invest much time in him or make him a "must watch." Give me NC and Spoony any day.
It's not an "old man" voice. It's a slightly psychopathic, something-is-really-wrong-with-this-guy voice. The intercuts are hilarious, and I love them because it makes his persona feel more off kilter than it already is. To each their own.
The guy's voice, demeanor, and overall character suggests and old man.
A
Amaris
Guest
Not at all.
^ There have been many instances that have suggested that Plinkett is an old man such as him being a kid on the Titanic, watching old 1930 serials when he was in his 40s, his claim that his kids put LSD in his coffee in the 60s, and his numerous references to having grand kids. This is, of course, in addition to the continuously altered picture of his 1st wife that he killed while destroying his Cadillac.