Yeah, I’m kind of with IceHippo73 on this one. I’m 44, and sure, kids liked the show too, but I’m pretty sure I was solidly in their intended audience at the time. And in fact, a lot of the references in the original run were clearly for people much older than I.

Well, I mean, it does sound like it was meant for a younger audience than Everworld’s bullying, racism, ableism, child molestation, violent white supremacists, etc., so you make a valid point as well. :) 

I’m actually not terribly surprised. I never read any Animorphs, but I read Everworld, and she can be brutal. Things like torture and mutilation, and the previously nice and friendly Vikings brutally sacking an Aztec city, are not infrequent. It’s kind of a given that a movie studio might want to tone things down a bit…

I think that HBO Max wasn’t even a twinkle in WB’s eye when they inked the deal.

I actually teared up a little. (Admittedly I’m five months pregnant, but I like to think I would have anyway.)

Also, general reviews were decent, but reviews from actual Chinese people (in English) were brutal. Apparently the cultural missteps were frequent and horrendous. That pushed it from a “I might pony up?” to a “I suppose I’ll consider checking it out in two months once it’s free” for me. I don’t think those reviews…

So... what you’re telling me is that maybe I should be asking tortoises for life advice?

Bite your tongue, that tarantula is adorable.

Huh. Until you said the author’s name, I honestly thought that this was based on the William Sleator book, Intersteller Pig. William Sleator, of course, was the author of nightmare fuel (at least when I was 8) like House of Stairs and The Green Futures of Tycho, so... this is probably for the best.

The difference is that the actress doesn’t live under the Chinese government. Now, you can debate whether that makes her completely free of the sort of pressure that this author is under (I don’t, personally - if I recall correctly, she has family and friends over there and regularly works there), but it does make a…

Well, I had it last month and I’m still not going to theaters or restaurants, though I freely admit I’m much more relaxed now when I have to leave my apartment. I had mono three times, though, so I’m well aware that my immune system is distinctly lacking, even when I’m not pregnant.

Right. This was entirely predictable, even if this was the greatest movie ever filmed, which doesn’t seem to be the case. I don’t believe that anyone genuinely thought they would get a good release from it, at least in the US, so I’m going to have to go with “they crunched the numbers, and fulfilling now any contractua…

Maybe they’re Canadian?

The shot I always remember best is from Candle Cove, where the protagonist is having his teeth ripped out offscreen and the camera is just slowly panning across some nice but normal woods and you’re listening to the muffled sounds the whole time.

Now I’m having flashbacks to a Dunkin Donuts many years ago in Chester, NJ, in which a woman at the next table actually prevented her 5-ish year old daughter from busing their trash because “that’s what we have a cleaning lady for!” Horrifying. 

I’m incapable of recognizing him by his face, so I jumped a bit and swore when his name popped up in the Introduce The Cast video.

I’m on the record.

Fucking Joel Kinnaman again, though. *sigh*