Netflix greenlights new "Lost in Space"

Not so different from feature films or novels, where sequels often come out years apart.

 

That's true but I think people see a tv show different. A movie is all about the story but tv is all about the characters. They are kind of like your friends you invite in every week. Well that was the case anyways. Steaming has sort of changed that to a degree.

Jason

 

I know how people see things, but the thing about points of view is that you can choose to look at things from a different angle. I'm suggesting that if modern, intermittent TV show schedules are frustrating in comparison to other TV shows, then try comparing them to movies instead. After all, streaming seasons are often pretty short, so their amount of content is closer to a movie's anyway. As are their production values, since fewer episodes means more money to spend per episode. The new Lost in Space certainly looks cinematic.

That's why I mentioned novels too. They can go a lot deeper than movies, while having similar release schedules.

 

Broadcast tv (the traditional model) also has the 'benefit' of seasons so long that if you actually tell a season long story without a ton of side episodes, there's a good you chance the audience has forgotten half of what happened by the time the story actually ends.

When it comes to tv, you pretty much get either long seasons or season long storytelling - not both (on the same show). And season long storytelling is a LOT of fun when done well, so I don't want to see it disappear at all.

As for the rest, it's true things are getting more spread out again and that's unfortunate, but it's been decades since anyone could watch every show conceivable without extra effort/costs, anyway, so its not exactly a new situation. And (for the most part) regular tv hasn't been worth the effort for the last decade.

 

Great! I'm one of those weirdos who prefers discs to streaming. Unfortunately, it will probably be very expensive over here.

 

I think a downside of it all available at once is if you watch it all at once it seems to loose some impact for me. I think I need some time to digest something, when I binge something it's all a blur, an enjoyable blur, but it's gone too soon, but with the whole "plot" of the season already known I'm also less likely to repeat it. So it seems diminished in some way. And I am genuinely starting to miss episodes of things that stand alone. Why watch episode x of anything if it's just a random part of a whole that doesn't stand on it's own in any way. Some of the "episodes" make me wonder why they started and stopped there, calling it an episode even seems to lose it's meaning.

But I'm really looking forward to season 2.

 

Another downside of the binge format that I've started to notice is that if I loose momentum on watching a show....I kinda just stop. Even after months, I've still yet to finish watching The Punisher's second season after getting at least 5 episodes in. Because the plot can be such a blur, it's hard to keep it in your head if you've been away for a week or more, much less remember whatever cliffhangar the last episode ended on.

 

I have noticed this before as well. It is useful for me to watch a. previously on, type of thing but some shows are foolish enough to not even have those just because they think everyone is watching back to back to back.

Jason

 

I feel the same way. I still haven't seen the current seasons of the Marvel shows and now that they are cancelled, why bother? Heck, even Jessica Jones (Which was my favorite of the Marvel shows) is a show I might not finish.

 

I don't understand that attitude. That's like asking why you should bother reading Shakespeare or Cervantes or Jane Austen or Mark Twain now that they're not putting out new work anymore. Most works of fiction and art currently in existence are no longer being actively created, but what does that matter to their worth as stories? You "bother" because they're good stories in and of themselves, not because you're anticipating some separate future work.

Anyway, each season of the Netflix shows has basically worked as a complete story in its own right, with closure to its story arcs even when there were teases of a future status quo. So I doubt JJ season 3 will leave any major storylines unfinished or unsatisfyingly resolved. It should be possible to enjoy the 3 seasons of the show as a complete work without it getting more. Heck, the majority of TV series ever made have gotten fewer than 3 seasons.

 

But Shakespeare or Austen have completed books. I mean would you read something like Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice if it was only half done? I look at these series like chapters in a book. They take so long to release a new chapter that once they do, my heart just isn't in it anymore. Then when they say the series is cancelled and the book will no longer be complete, the motivation is pretty much gone.

 

There are many great works of literature, art, and music that have endured for centuries despite being unfinished, like The Canterbury Tales and Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_creative_work

Besides, you can't define "half-done" for an ongoing series. That's not how it works. It ends when it ends. And as I said, each season of the Marvel Netflix shows is complete in itself, whether or not it gets continued. Many modern TV series are designed that way, so that each season can work as well as a series finale as a season finale, since there's never any guarantee that a show will run a certain ideal length.

But they're not. They're more like books in a series. Each season is a book, complete unto itself. And the series runs until it ends, because that's how series fiction tends to work.

 

I honestly can't stand a regular broadcast schedule that seemingly goes on forever, to take Bones as an example. It's way too long, even to binge on it. I much prefer the streaming model of shorter concise seasons, where story arcs feel stronger and wrapped up by season end. If I have to wait longer between seasons, that's fine, as it lets me catch up with other shows seeing as how many of them pop up all the time telling me new episodes are available. Makes for more varied and interesting watching.

 

I'm not a big fan of the full season releases, it makes it hard to follow articles on sites like Io9 or Tor.com when I'm not necessarily on the same schedule as their people are, and it also makes conversations here harder when we're not all watching the episodes within at least a few days of each other. I also kind of like the anticipation of everyone having to wait a week before we get to see what happens next.

 

Please excuse me if these points have been repeated but I can't help but think there's a ton of backstory for this series that could be explored.

1. How did Earth find out about the alien technology, which they managed to use for 23 trips already to Alpha Centauri?
2. Was John stationed in some military outpost connected somehow to all this secret stuff that was going on?
3. What actual information did Maureen trade for Will to be put on the mission? She didn't have access to the engine so it had to be something else.
4. Are there actual aliens who control the robots or are they actually a mechanical alien race?

I think that's all for now but really there is a ton of stuff they could still explore in this series.

 

^ 3) Topless pics of herself.

 

5) When is the flipping release date for season 2?

1) The specifics may be lacking but it seems pretty clear is was related to the Christmas Star (that was what it was called, right)?
2) Sounded like John traveled a lot. I'm guessing in the event of a global catastrophe like that that the various world militaries would be busy.

 

What was reported as the "Christmas Star", a supposedly natural object like a chunk of asteroid that impacted upon Earth was, in reality, an alien artifact that contained technology permitting "rapid" interstellar travel. Humans "salvaged" it ("stole" it from the perspective of the attacking robots) and used it to reach the stars.

 

Oh you wish

 

I agree that the writers did a pretty good job of telling an intact story while leaving these areas to be explored in future seasons. My family and I spent quite a bit of time discussing this show after we finished watching.

As for "binging" series, I don't really like to do that. At most I will watch two episodes a day of a Netflix series (sometimes three) and then leave it for a day or two or a week before returning to it. This way I can easily watch several series at once, and have time to reflect on the stories before moving on to new episodes.