Wandavision

[The Culture Bunker]

I also thought it didn't look 100% spot on (too sharp, for one thing) but it hardly breaks the premise of the show. I'm already well aware that it's a pastiche. The question - the whole point of the show really - is how did they get there?
Also, Vision was dead last time we saw him. So there's that.

My guess, doubtless miles wrong, is that Wanda is trapped in some kind of mental 'prison' - of her own making or having been captured by some shady group. Might also explain the 'not-right' style of the sitcoms being parodied, as she wouldn't have any deep knowledge of them.

Vision is certainly dead, with what we're seeing perhaps being her means of coping with her grief.

[olliebean]

The pre-release interviews with writers, director, etc. all focused entirely on the brilliant reconstructions of sitcoms from 2-3 generations ago and how the two leads were born for this stuff and so on. Which does make me wonder if the reveal will be worth it in the end or if the people behind it know that they have to get as many people on side before it turns to clichéd drivel.
Can't wait, won't wait.

Bettany's comments in the article someone posted about the ending being in full MCU action movie mode were rather dispiriting. Whether you think it's successful or not, they do appear at least to be trying to do something genuinely different from the usual MCU stuff with the early episodes. It'll be a huge shame if it just devolves into bog-standard Marvel fare by the end.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

If she is doing it (which Mrs. Hart's creepy "Stop it" during the choking scene might imply) I might have expected her to resurrect her brother and parents as well. Of course there could be budgetary/scheduling reasons why Aaron Johnson isn't back.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The question - the whole point of the show really - is how did they get there?

[Mister Six]

It looks enough like those shows that 90% of the audience won't notice the difference, or care about the difference. I think it is a fairly niche chunk of viewers that give a shit about that sort of thing

90 percent of viewers are fucking idiots - that doesn't absolve the show from being half-arsed.

Right now all this multimillion dollar series has is its premise. Why is it executing that premise worse than Harry Enfield did three decades ago on a BBC budget?

And even if the pastiches were pitch perfect, the episodes are still too long and not funny enough, and they're seriously going to have to get a move on with the arc plot if there are seven episodes left. They've established the premise now - third episode is where we need to get traction on the actual story rather than playing out another pretend sitcom with a couple of odd moments and an ending revealing that someone is watching them on a TV screen again.

[bgmnts]

IIRC, he was thinking of quitting acting before he got the gig as JARVIS in Iron Man. Must be really glad he stuck around now.

Off topic but I actually quite like Paul Bettany in the very few things I've seen him in. Particularly Margin Call.

[Blumf]

Maybe the argument there is that they cared, but they didn't care enough.

This.

It's okay, but feels like it could have been just a bit better. Both the period styling and the 'sitcom'. It's kinda like the Uncanny Valley effect for production; if it had been worse, it'd probably get shrugged off as fine, but it's almost good enough that it irritates.

Still, liked the Bewitched episode and it's magic show. I'll watch it all.

[Mister Six]

Aye, the magic show was very good. "That was my grandmother's piano" and "Is that how mirrors work?" both got big laughs from me. Moustache bloke seems to be Wandavision's Hans Moleman.

[C_Larence]

Aye, the magic show was very good. "That was my grandmother's piano" and "Is that how mirrors work?" both got big laughs from me. Moustache bloke seems to be Wandavision's Hans Moleman.

Just because you said that I reckon he'll end up being a villain. Feels like a proper Marvel move that. I'm suspicious of the neighbour's unseen husband too.

[Povidone]

Said it before but I've bought in fully to the sprawling narrative of the MCU and I like these two characters in particular. So far I'm cautiously optimistic that this could be one of the better entries, god I'm a sucker for this stuff - savouring the anticipation for each new installment like the smell of a Chinese takeaway filling your car as it congeals on the passenger seat, soon to be demolished greedily, leaving you bloated and with a slight sense of shame but ultimately full.

Found the second episode stronger than the first, more of the jokes genuinely landed and the wrongness bleeding through felt more purposeful. The scene with Wanda and the domineering comittee lass had even more creepy Lynch vibes than the dinner scene from the previous episode. Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds, it's going to live or die by how it pulls off the ending though - the inevtable Marvel conflagration at the end could be potentially jarring.

I think I'm waiting for something to come along and really having a shot at fooling someone into believing it was made decades before it really was, and this ain't it. Like Bait or something. Believably old.

To be fair this is an obviously decent idea but explicitly not what Wandavision is meant to be doing, at the end of the day there is only so much they are going to commit to the central gimmick - which I would argue is an impressive amount - given that there is already a tension between the individual creative aspirations of the project and the fact that it is A Unit of the ever expanding MCU. Folk are kidding themselves thinking they were going to go in filming it on period specific cameras etc.

I think I was more put off going in by the constantly implied notion in the PR that American sitcoms I've never heard of or watched are some kind of cultural touchstone that shaped the world as we know it - shades of Community. Also Wanda is Sokovian, are they going to have a scene explaining that she's been watching loads of US sitcoms previous to all this?

[Dr Rock]

Sokovian TV showed all them old US sitcoms.

[Obel]

I feel the same as people who reckon it's dragging its heels a bit and am craving more of the weirdness. The jokes aren't funny on any level to me so it makes the show a bit of a chore to watch at times. However I do really like these characters and their portrayal and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes.

So, theories? I've not read a Marvel comic in my life, so if this is an adaptation of a comic storyline please don't post spoilers or anything.
I reckon she's having some sort of a mental breakdown. It seems to be a reality of her making and she seems to be dreaming everything into her reality bubble which is enhanced by her powers. Occasionally it seems like things are encroaching on her reality, like the helicopter which was in colour and in Iron Man's colours, the beekeeper etc. Also the boss at dinner seemed to be legit getting angry as if he was aware the situation wasn't real, before she started choking him. Then Vision only assisted him upon her instruction to him. So I reckon Vision is still dead.

The bit that stood out as really unusual to me was when she asked the lady what her name was and she had to think for a second before coming up with a name. I reckon she wasn't part of Wanda's delusion and now she had unwittingly become a player in it.

Oh also those adverts seem to be attached to her trauma or something.

So yeah I'm going for magical mental breakdown. Though I'm sure Marvel will play it safe and just have her abducted and in a Hydra controlled lab or something. We've seen their symbol already.

[phantom_power]

Right now all this multimillion dollar series has is its premise. Why is it executing that premise worse than Harry Enfield did three decades ago on a BBC budget?

There are loads of reasons beyond "couldn't be arsed". As I said people have spent months and years making this show. Do you think they would skimp on the last bit if there wasn't a reason? Maybe they didn't want the segues between eras too jarring. Maybe it is hard to make that sort of old fashioned show look good on HDTVs (something Enfield wouldn't have had to worry about). Maybe it is some technical or aesthetic issue I don't know enough about the issues at hand to speculate about. Either way I doubt "couldn't be arsed" is the whole story

[The Culture Bunker]

Oh also those adverts seem to be attached to her trauma or something.

The watch advert was for 'Strucker' brand, Baron Strucker being the HYDRA bod who did the experiments that gave Wanda and her brother their powers. He's dead too, though - Ultron bounced him off.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Watched this last night. Loved it. Found myself scouring every scene for hidden clues and I can't wait to see where this goes.

I don't agree at all with the criticism of not using period cameras and filming techniques. Inside No. 9 could do it because The Devil of Christmas is 100% set in period. This isn't. There's stuff bleeding through from the real world into the sitcom world and the fourth wall has been broken a number of times. I don't see how you could do that so effectively if you were flitting from ancient film stock to digital 4K, not to mention how you'd handle compositing between the two and adding digital effects to the B&W scenes. Those subtle changes in lighting and framing. How would you handle the choking scene when things move from the fixed cameras to Wanda and Vision's moment at the table, for instance? The discovery of the helicopter?

[Blumf]

Both adverts seem to involve countdown clocks, seemingly of the Hollywood bomb type (beep beep-beep-bep-bep-b-b-b-beeee).

Is Wanda aware of the adverts, or is that just for us?

[Mister Six]

How would you handle the choking scene when things move from the fixed cameras to Wanda and Vision's moment at the table, for instance? The discovery of the helicopter?

Not really sure why either of those things would be tricky to pull off. Choking scene can keep same film stock/filter (in fact, keeping the same stock while changing the way the scene is shot would be much more unnerving), and colourising is hardly an exciting new technology.

[Replies From View]

Why aren't people exhausted by soaps? There's been like thousands of episodes in a decade. Why aren't people exhausted by football? There's been like thousands of matches in a decade.
It's weird how people stay interested in their interests, isn't it?

there's no excuse for football though

[Mister Six]

Looked at the trailer for episode 3, which is set in the 70s and they're really not trying - everything's been slathered with that shite orange-and-teal colour grading, like, aye the 70s were all about burnt sienna but that's not what the TV shows looked like, with crisp outlines and lovely saturated colours.

(Sorry.)

[Dr Rock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDQV7uPb1Q&ab_channel=FactsVerse

I don't think it comes close to how saturated The Brady Bunch is here.

[Mister Six]

The palette is very different - look at the greys in people's skin, as well as the rosy pinkness. Likewise the fuzziness of the film/video stock. Wandavision looks like every modern orange-teal show on TV.

[Dr Rock]

I reckon the biggest difference is the fuzziness, cos telly wasn't hi definition in the olden days.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I can easily imagine some Disney big wig putting the kibosh on more authentic levels of fuzz, because they don't want a bunch of 4K telly owners signing up and thinking that Disney+ is some standard definition rip off. I saw one pillock on the A.V. Club forums complaining about it being 4:3.

If the director or whoever has been talking up the attention to detail, then it's a (teeny tiny) bit embarrassing for them but is that really what anyone is tuning in for?

Also, the "real world" of the show is one in which Howard Stark was inventing flying cars in the 1940s. Maybe they just had better cameras than we did in the '50s.

[Artie Fufkin]

Just watched 2nd episode. I think I'm gonna like it.
I've really only commented to get this thread bookmarked, however.
Also, I keep thinking *that* neighbour is David Schwimmer.

[Dr Rock]

I can easily imagine some Disney big wig putting the kibosh on more authentic levels of fuzz, because they don't want a bunch of 4K telly owners signing up and thinking that Disney+ is some standard definition rip off.

I reckon this too.

[Povidone]

Aye doesn't film look ropey as fuck on Hi-def TVs? Don't have one myself but every time I've seen folk watching anything made for TV before about 2015 on one all the actors are zipping about the screen like they're on cheap gack. Though I suppose that would be quite an unnerving effect as well.

[Pseudopath]

I can easily imagine some Disney big wig putting the kibosh on more authentic levels of fuzz, because they don't want a bunch of 4K telly owners signing up and thinking that Disney+ is some standard definition rip off. I saw one pillock on the A.V. Club forums complaining about it being 4:3.

This. One of the lowest-scoring user reviews on Metacritic literally reads the following:

In 2021, i am really enjoy the show which only show Black and White colors on my Samsung QLED 8K TV.

Hope your Samsung QLED 8K TV brings you a dazzlingly-multicoloured house fire, harry32019!

[Magnum Valentino]

Aye doesn't film look ropey as fuck on Hi-def TVs? Don't have one myself but every time I've seen folk watching anything made for TV before about 2015 on one all the actors are zipping about the screen like they're on cheap gack. Though I suppose that would be quite an unnerving effect as well.

No. What the fuck are you talking about?!

[Phil_A]

Aye doesn't film look ropey as fuck on Hi-def TVs? Don't have one myself but every time I've seen folk watching anything made for TV before about 2015 on one all the actors are zipping about the screen like they're on cheap gack. Though I suppose that would be quite an unnerving effect as well.

It shouldn't do if the TV is set-up properly. Most modern TVs have a frame interpolation mode that makes the motion of films look "smoother" but also has the effect of making everything feel like you're watching a cheaply made soap shot on video, but this is entirely optional.

SD content on HDTVs can look pretty awful if you're watching some Freeview channels because the bitrate is so lousy on most of them.

[Wet Blanket]

Is this the sort of thing where you have to have watched all the Marvel movies to understand what's going on? Because I like retro stylings but I'm not much into the whole MCU particularly. I don't know who Wanda or the robot guy is or anything.