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Do we have any other Critical Role fans here on the board watching this Amazon show, or even better folks checking it out with no preconceptions?
What do you think so far? As an adaptation, as a show itself, what's your opinion? Favorite characters or moments or plotlines?
I would say we should consider this thread open for SPOILERS up to the current episodes released on Prime, but anything based on the CR source material that hasn't made it into the show yet should go behind Spoiler Tags.
For my money, I'm over the moon. While I didn't contribute to the Kickstarter back in 2019, I've been watching/listening to the show since just after the arc they're adapting for Season 1. I honestly didn't expect the animation and overall quality to be this good, though I was hopeful it could be, and of course I knew the voice acting would be fantastic. Seeing this delightful little experiment go into a full-on multi-season animated series is more than I could have hoped for.
I've been watching CR going back six years now (jumped in when they were somewhere around episode 45 in their first campaign) and was happy to back their Kickstarter for this. That was actually the first (and, so far, only) one I've backed, actually.
As for the show, I thought the first five minutes or so were kind of cringey, almost like they were trying a little too hard, but once they got going on the actual story of the episode it got really good. I think it's also been steadily improving with every episode. The animation has been very good and I've enjoyed the little nods to anime here and there, particularly with Percy. They've all done extensive anime VO over the years, so it makes sense that they'd want to pay homage.
And the voice cast outside of the main players is pretty impressive, too. David Tennant, Grey Griffin, Stephen Root, Stephanie Beatriz, Gina Torres, Dominic Monaghan, Kelly Hu, and Indira Varma, plus actors who actually appeared on Critical Role like Felicia Day, Darin De Paul, Khary Payton, and Anjali Bhimani! Talk about a stacked cast.
I think the adaptation has been mostly good so far. People who follow CR already will know that
Pike wasn't present for most of the current story arc because of Ashley Johnson's work on Blindspot
so I was curious to see how they'd handle it and so far I've been really enjoying what they're doing with that storyline. I respect Matthew Mercer's decision not to voice Gilmore in the show, and while I do like Sunil Malhotra's take, I do think his Gilmore comes across a bit more... aggressive than he felt in the campaign.
I don't know how others are treating this show in regards to changes being made, but I'm looking at it as if the campaign was more like a rough draft while The Legend of Vox Machina is like a final draft where they've had the chance to go back, clean up and refine the things in the rough draft that they weren't happy with.
Sounds like you and I have been watching them for about the same amount of time then! I do kinda regret not backing the Kickstarter in retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't.
I agree about the first five minutes or so; how it seemed to be kind of cringey and over the top, overdoing it as if to say "In case you weren't sure, this is an adult series!," which seems particularly strange given just how intense and adult the Briarwoods arc is. But once it settled down it really seemed to find its groove. I enjoyed Krieg as the first boss since we didn't get that on the streaming show, Tennant did a great job as always, and the brief flash of the orbs
hinting at the Chroma Conclave, which I wouldn't be surprised to see making their appearance as a cliffhanger at the end of Season 1.
Reworking the structure that way also did a handy job of getting our characters to where they needed to be to start the Briarwood Arc.
It's really getting better and better, yeah. I'd forgotten somehow just how charming Vax can be, and while I hope we get to see more of the Grog/Pike relationship, both his heart and his anger, overall I think they're doing an amazing job with the characters we fell in love with. The humor's landing better too - I absolutely loved the flashbacks when they were talking about their best solo kill. Vax and the Rakshasa were good enough, but getting a flashback to Keyleth's "Shh... please go to sleep!" in the lava was absolutely hilarious.
I'm tending to treat this show as a "final draft" too, or at least... a different take. I'm sure as we move forwards we'll have even more things changed, but I'm excited by it so far.
And the voice cast outside of the main players is pretty impressive, too. David Tennant, Grey Griffin, Stephen Root, Stephanie Beatriz, Gina Torres, Dominic Monaghan, Kelly Hu, and Indira Varma, plus actors who actually appeared on Critical Role like Felicia Day, Darin De Paul, Khary Payton, and Anjali Bhimani! Talk about a stacked cast.
Between the animation quality and the voice cast quality, it's so very, very good. Speaking of Darin De Paul
I really hope we get to see them adapt the stuff with Sprigg; as many amazing guest characters as the show had, he might have been my absolute favorite.
Pike wasn't present for most of the current story arc because of Ashley Johnson's work on Blindspot
so I was curious to see how they'd handle it and so far I've been really enjoying what they're doing with that storyline. I respect Matthew Mercer's decision not to voice Gilmore in the show, and while I do like Sunil Malhotra's take, I do think his Gilmore comes across a bit more... aggressive than he felt in the campaign.
Yeah, I was wondering how they'd handle the stuff in you spoiler, and I've been absolutely enjoying it, how they're presenting it, and really looking forward to a grand moment later, presuming they adapt that.
And while I guess it's fair enough that Matt didn't voice Gilmore in the show, it's the one thing that hasn't really worked for me. I mean, it's good but Matt's Gilmore is just so... iconic that it pulls me out a little, and I also agree with the increased aggression. But... it's a minor issue really.
