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Sense8 |OT| First there was One, now there are Eight - Netflix - *S1 spoilers*

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S

Sober

Member
GK86 said:
This is gonna end up like Marco, killed by reviews, but liked/loved by viewers. Glad to see more positive reviews coming out.
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Marco Polo wasn't actually all that good most of the time was why. It was saved by the fact it could be binged.

I have no idea how this show is supposed to work. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not so much, but I kinda am intrigued to see the execution of it.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
J. Michael Straczynski has a fascinating interview with Hitfix' Dan Fienberg - Link

We cast out of every single country that we shot in. We had extensive casting calls in Nairobi and Iceland, in London, in India. And what’s kind of fun is that once we did our cast, Max [Riemelt] is from Berlin, he's one of the better known actors there. Tina [Desai] is from Mumbai and Doona is from Korea. As we shot the show, it kind of became like the Olympics in the following sense. We shot out each location one at a time. Because the show as done in subjective point of view -- not point of view camera but point of view thematically -- we never leave the point of view of our characters. Consequently when they’re in San Francisco to start off with, Jamie Clayton is in every single shot in every single scene. And we shot her nonstop for like two or three weeks. Then we’d button up San Francisco and go to Chicago. And Brian [J. Smith] is in every single shot every single day and everyone has to be supportive of him. Then we’d go to London and now its Tuppence's [Middleton] turn. And after a while it becomes like the Olympics where you hand off the baton to the next one. And there's a level of competition of saying, "I represent my country and by gosh I’m going to do a great job," but also knowing that we have to support each other because that person's turn in the barrel is next. And that nationalism really brought a flavor to the production and to the cast dynamics that I’ve never seen before.
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Much more at the link.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
As we were develping the first season, I’m a structuring nut. I like to know where I'm going at all times. So consequently there were things in the first season we wanted to do I would say, "Okay, we’re going to do this now. Where is that going to take us? Where is that going to go in year two? How are we going to end the show?" And we ended up looking at a rough five-year structure with year one being kind of the origin story for our characters. And we know year two. I put together a 30-page document that has all the key points we want to hit for year two. They haven’t given us the go-ahead yet but when they do, we’re ready to hit the ground running. So that’s all ready to go. And with luck we’ll do five years. One never knows. That’s certainly the plan.
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They're planning for 5 seasons but a lot of the storylines/mysteries will close at the end of the season:

We figured invariably the networks assume that the audience is not terribly bright. We believe the other way around. We think that the audience is hip enough and smart enough and trusting enough. If they know this is going somewhere and if they know, which is true, that by the end of the season, by the end of the story, everything is resolved in terms of how this all works they’ll stay with us. Bear in mind, we're doing a 12-hour structure, which is basically a 12-hour movie. If you want into a mystery film at a local cinema and four hours of a 12-hour movie is the first act. If you wanted in and after the first say 15 minutes of seeing all the setup, walked out of the theater of a mystery, you wouldn’t know what was going on. But you know that if you stay with it over the course of those two hours, eventually all those mysterious points will be cleared. Our structure is the same thing. The first act is setting up the mystery and what the hell’s going on. But the deeper you go, the more everything lines up and everything gets explained. The episodes either answer the questions that were raised in four or maybe the questions that were asked in three. It's a matter of just staying with it and we trust the audience’s smartness to figure that out.
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K

Karu

Member
Normally this doesn't irk me at all but especially when whey are in Germany the fact that they all speak english is rather confusing. Would have preferred subtitles.
 
H

Hours Left

Member
Three episodes in. It's cheesy and unfocused, but I like it.

The characters are endearing and the core mystery has potential. The dialogue is still pretty cringey though.
 
R

ramyeon

Member
I really wish they had the characters from non English speaking countries acting in their native languages with subtitles. Bae Doona is such a great actress but it feels awkward for her to have to use English even with other Korean actors. Only watched a bit of the first episode so I'm not sure if this changes but I have a feeling it doesn't.
 
H

hamchan

Member
Halfway through the first ep and it's sorta a mess so far. Hope they manage to tie this all together by the end of the ep because none of it is really compelling yet and just seems like a random mishmash of scenes.
 
H

Hamlet

Member
Episode 3 -
"May Jean-Claude protect you" "I'll fuck you, Van Damme" "He is Van Damme" Lol loving these Van Damme line despite being a tad hokey haha.
The final fight was really well done and it was interesting to see the other sensates coming together to help in the fight. Looking forward to seeing more scene like that.
Still not quite sure on the show yet as the dialogue can be really clunky at times and the pace feels a tad sluggish right now. But it's still got my interest and i'm sorta enjoying it so far.
Plus the show is really pretty.
 
T

The Last Wizard

Member
hamchan said:
Halfway through the first ep and it's sorta a mess so far. Hope they manage to tie this all together by the end of the ep because none of it is really compelling yet and just seems like a random mishmash of scenes.
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Yup, same feelings after finishing ep 1. They need to focus on certain characters every ep so they're not just zipping across the globe every few minutes.

I really hope it picks up as the concept is cool af.
 
D

Daft_Cat

Member
I dug the first episode (with the preface that I'm a huge Wachowski fan). I've loved everything they've done aside from Jupiter Ascending. That said, one of my buddies has been watching since midnight and apparently the series picks up in some pretty crazy ways. Can't wait.

It's its own thing so far, but it reminds me a bit of Cloud Atlas by way of The Matrix (with a dash of Serial Experiments Lain). It's definitely channelling that "late 90's/early 00's" aesthetic. I suppose the closest TV comparisons are Lost and Heroes... but this feels more auteur-ish, and not necessarily in a totally good way. What an interesting time for television, though. Flaws aside, it's incredible that filmmakers like the Wachowskis are getting the opportunity to craft their visions on such a vast, long-form canvas.
 
JeTmAn81

JeTmAn81

Member
ramyeon said:
I really wish they had the characters from non English speaking countries acting in their native languages with subtitles. Bae Doona is such a great actress but it feels awkward for her to have to use English even with other Korean actors. Only watched a bit of the first episode so I'm not sure if this changes but I have a feeling it doesn't.
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Yeah, it seems weird. They are going balls-out with the diversity of the cast, but they still all have to speak English? C'mon son.

Also,
lol @ Bat Van.
 
K

Kurdel

Banned
hamchan said:
Halfway through the first ep and it's sorta a mess so far. Hope they manage to tie this all together by the end of the ep because none of it is really compelling yet and just seems like a random mishmash of scenes.
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I think expecting a show with protagonists to go anywhere in the first episode is asking a bit much of a pilot.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
I guess it's still early, but I'm pretty surprised by the lack of activity. I'd have thought we'd have a few pages of impressions so far...

I know it's probably not fair to compare, but the thread for DD was insanely active around this time.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Miles Quaritch said:
I guess it's still early, but I'm pretty surprised by the lack of activity. I'd have thought we'd have a few pages of impressions so far...

I know it's probably not fair to compare, but the thread for DD was insanely active around this time.
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Lol, that's like comparing any Marvel movie thread with the Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending threads. Same result. :p
 
K

Kurdel

Banned
Miles Quaritch said:
I guess it's still early, but I'm pretty surprised by the lack of activity. I'd have thought we'd have a few pages of impressions so far...

I know it's probably not fair to compare, but the thread for DD was insanely active around this time.
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Kimmy Schmitt's first day was also super slow, but I doubt something from the Wachowski's will be as popular as something from Marvel.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
duckroll said:
Lol, that's like comparing any Marvel movie thread with the Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending threads. Same result. :p
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Yeah, it's not really a fair comparison at all and I probably shouldn't have brought it up.

Still, I'm surprised by how little interest there is in this. Maybe it'll pick up as we enter the weekend.

Kurdel said:
Kimmy Schmitt's first day was also super slow, but I doubt something from the Wachowski's will be as popular as something from Marvel.
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Yeah, it was a silly comparison. My bad.

I can't watch to watch it, haven't much cared for their recent output (Jupiter Ascending was just awful), but this looks pretty interesting. Maybe they'll be better suited to the TV format.
 
D

duckroll

Member
This doesn't seem like the sort of SUPER HYPE show which people are dying to binge the moment it goes up either. Seems more like a slow burn new original concept thing. I'm sure there are more people interested, but planning to check it out over the weekend instead. Like me. :p
 
JeTmAn81

JeTmAn81

Member
I don't think many people even know about this show. I wouldn't know if there hadn't been a GAF thread. Also, hurray for Joey Pants being in this.
 
D

Daft_Cat

Member
Miles Quaritch said:
I guess it's still early, but I'm pretty surprised by the lack of activity. I'd have thought we'd have a few pages of impressions so far...

I know it's probably not fair to compare, but the thread for DD was insanely active around this time.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what Netflix's marketing approach is with this. There's been very little coverage, and it seems to have arrived with very little fanfare despite the pedigree/ not being obviously terrible. Sure the reception has been mixed, but critics only got to see the first few episodes. Most reviews seem intrigued, for better or for worse.

Daredevil's hook was obvious... but I'm on episode 3 now, and Sense8 increasingly feels like an arthouse experimental version of Lost. A slow-burn maybe? Something that will live and die by a sort of "wtf is this" word of mouth? I doubt Netflix is quietly sending it out to die, so to speak. At least I hope they aren't.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Daft_Cat said:
I'm not sure what Netflix's marketing approach is with this. There's been very little coverage, and it seems to have arrived with very little fanfare despite the pedigree/ not being obviously terrible. Sure the reception has been mixed, but critics only got to see the first few episodes. Most reviews seem intrigued, for better or for worse.
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The majority of their shows have come with little fanfare. The big exceptions being HoC, DD, and OitNB.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
Yeah . . . Most of these shows audiences find themselves. I'm sure they do a lot of selective marketing in the netflix home page.
 
M

Mifune

Mehmber
I dug the first episode. Definitely unfocused and messy. But there's some power humming below the surface. I'm intrigued.
 
A

Altairre

Member
MikeDip said:
Starting ep3. I think I like it?
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It's always like this with the Wachowskis for me. Even with their movies it takes me a while to decided how and if I liked it. Except for Jupiter Ascending maybe, which rubbed me the wrong way almost immediately.
 
Z

Zalasta

Member
Well, for whatever it's worth I am excited and will get into it after I get off of work. I don't really have any expectation or baggage towards the Wachowskis, didn't follow them after The Matrix. So I just hope to be entertained :)
 
C

Cabbagehead

Member
First Episode: Is interesting with its beginning and the end. So that will keep me watching but what was off for me was the
Pride storyline it comes off as super heavy handed and feels disjointed from the rest of the characters life's. It feels not as important or maybe interesting as the rest. Matter a fact i would say it feels shoe horned in and the dialogue, acting does not help it (Plus the unnecessary sex scene ).
other then that i like the characters for the most part. There different enough for there to be some solid material there. Though this is basically Cloud Atlas the tv show.

Second Episode (barely into it but): The
Pride stuff is still pretty heavy handed so far.
 
T

Tylercrat

Banned
After the first episode, I really like it so far. But I've never seen a Wachowski production that I didn't like (at least a little bit). Yeah, it's similar to Cloud Atlas as far as it's story telling, which means right off the bat like 60% of viewers won't like it.

It's definitely the best thing I've watched on Netflix since Daredevil, but if you don't like Wackowski sci-fi, then you definitely won't like this stuff.
 
M

MikeDip

God bless all my old friends/And god bless me too, why pretend?
Really really liked ep 4.
The more frequent mixing and jumping and the song scene was good. Also cop dude helping nomi escape was cool
 
K

Karu

Member
Pilot was shitty. Show can be chees, dialogue can be meh, BUT the following few eps were mostly great. Episode 4 in particular was amazing. An amazing sense of excitement and wonder. Love it.
 
M

Mifune

Mehmber
Yeah, I think the pilot was kind of cheesy. But it's visually stunning cheese. And there's something spine-tingling about discovering connections between the characters. It's strangely moving, too, in ways I can't explain.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
Half way in to the second episode and I'm enjoying it. I like the premise and all the main characters so far
Kudos to the brothers for the minority exposure too.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
Karu said:
Normally this doesn't irk me at all but especially when whey are in Germany the fact that they all speak english is rather confusing. Would have preferred subtitles.
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I'm on episode 5
you start to see some local languages and subtitles when the non english people are 'visiting' each other
I also prefer to watch subtitles instead of dubs and/or 'broken' english but I'm leaning towards not speaking english might have been even more confusing
duckroll said:
Lol, that's like comparing any Marvel movie thread with the Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending threads. Same result. :p
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So we compare to HoC, Orange is.... etc
I binged through HoC all seasons on opening weekend. But I'm done with that show now, not interested in future seasons
I binged through OitnB all seasons on opening weekend. I won't binge on the next season coming up soon though.
I binged through DD on opening weekend. I will also binge on next season.
I didn't binge through Kitty on opening weekend. I didn't even hear of it until months later. I've still only watched a couple episodes and haven't finished. No interest in next season.
I didn't binge through Bojack on opening weekend. I didn't even hear of it until months later. I've watched a few episodes here and there then binged through episode 6 til the end. I'll binge through Bojack next season on opening weekend

Now Sense8
Wachowskis doesn't have the cachet they used to imo. I like the Matrix but I wouldn't pay to watch any of their other movies in theaters (I still haven't seen Cloud Atlas). Likewise the reviews so far are uneven so if this were a week to week show, I wouldn't have bothered following it in case the payoff 3 months down the line wasn't worth it (I abandoned watching Leftovers on HBO for that reason). The only reasons I'm watching Sense8 are because I've already paid for it (Neftlix subscription) and because I can binge watch it now to get answers and the payoff (Netflix dump-everything-at-once distribution). Basically, this is the first Netflix tv show I'm only watching because they produced it... hmm... if it turns out to be good, it's one step closer to ranking Netflix alongside HBO brand for premium tv content imo
 
C

Cabbagehead

Member
The opening credits are there, they are a bunch of pictures/videos. Its weird as hell and its far to long in my opinion.


Yeah i kind of like the show, it has its bright spots but the dialogue sounds like they're speaking bad Shakespearean lines and some times it comes off as super unnatural. To some degree i wish that this was made by some one else, or someone that could rile in the plots and connecting stories let it breath better with more natural dialogue but oh well. Hopefully if there is a season 2 these will be far more tighter and less disjointed and messy because in my eye's i see a lot of scenes and other things that could have been left on the cutting room floor.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
Cabbagehead said:
The opening credits are there, they are a bunch of pictures/videos. Its weird as hell and its far to long in my opinion.


Yeah i kind of like the show, it has its bright spots but the dialogue sounds like they're speaking bad Shakespearean lines and some times it comes out of as super unnatural. To some degree i wish that this was made by some one else, or someone that could rile in the plots and connecting stories let it breath better with more natural dialogue but oh well. Hopefully if there is a season 2 these will be far more tighter and less disjointed and messy because in my eye's i see a lot of scenes and other thing that could have been left on the cutting room floor.
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Have you finished it? What episode are you on?

The first episode is very messy but I don't want to judge the whole show on just that...

That said I would love to see what dialog/plot master like David Simon would do with this new production and distribution method Netflix is pioneering
 
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