The Boys (Amazon Prime)

[CyberCubed]

I watched this all in one go. I like how it's a satire of modern culture and social media, and both simultaneously making fun of gun nuts, racists, ultra feminists, SJW's, basically everyone, while also being down to earth. Homelander is basically Superman mixed with Trump. Stormfront and the other girls made it obvious they don't care about feminism or women being better than men, same with Maeve not wanting to be promoted as a lesbian or LGBT icon. Basically it makes fun of everyone, which is why it works.

Anyone think Starlight in her civilian clothes sort of looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar? Her voice sounds very similar too, honestly if they ever reboot Buffy she would be a good actress to cast as her. I swear she sounded nearly identical in some episodes and looks the part too.

Homelander is the best actor for obvious reasons, he nails the role. Love how everyone is a parody of a popular superhero. Some things I've seen in this show though...cannot be unseen. I'm surprised they were allowed to get away with or show some of the things of sexual nature on this show, on amazon prime no less. Some things I'd rather not see again, let's put it that way.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I watched this all in one go. I like how it's a satire of modern culture and social media, and both simultaneously making fun of gun nuts, racists, ultra feminists, SJW's, basically everyone, while also being down to earth. Homelander is basically Superman mixed with Trump. Stormfront and the other girls made it obvious they don't care about feminism or women being better than men, same with Maeve not wanting to be promoted as a lesbian or LGBT icon. Basically it makes fun of everyone, which is why it works.

Anyone think Starlight in her civilian clothes sort of looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar? Her voice sounds very similar too, honestly if they ever reboot Buffy she would be a good actress to cast as her. I swear she sounded nearly identical in some episodes and looks the part too.

Homelander is the best actor for obvious reasons, he nails the role. Love how everyone is a parody of a popular superhero. Some things I've seen in this show though...cannot be unseen. I'm surprised they were allowed to get away with or show some of the things of sexual nature on this show, on amazon prime no less. Some things I'd rather not see again, let's put it that way.

The books would give you a heart attack, then.

Like I didn't see it but I highly doubt any of the chicks at Herogasm were f*cking dogs on the TV show, for example. Every time I picked up an issue of The Boys I swore I'd end up on some kinda watch list somewhere.

I'm sure the show does its own thing very well, for a TV show. I might see it one day. I do read about it sometimes but it's about as "In Name Only" as adaptations get and right now I'm not in the mood yet.

I get it, though. The show and the book, they're in the same arena but not playing the same sport, if that makes sense.

[Drose18]

Has anyone gotten around to watching The Boys? I just finished the final season so far and have to say it is some of the best super hero content ever.

Homelander is such an intriguing villain to say the least and I found the majority of characters intruiging and incredibly well done. I don’t want to give anything away but this whole show is a great take on superheroes turn evil on the world.

I've heard the show is better than the comic version but cant speak to It.

Edit: Thanks to Andrew NDB for directing my shell for brains to the thread I couldnt find

[Andrew NDB]

Yes.

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=61683

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Drose18

I've heard the show is better than the comic version but cant speak to It.

Based on the little bit I've seen I strongly disagree, but to be fair the TV show is very "in name only" and the show and books go into completely different directions. They're not even playing the same sport, nor are they specifically trying to make the same points to begin with. And when they do make similar points, they approach them entirely differently.

The show seems to mostly be "better" for people who think the books were far too graphic, whereas I and others who prefer the book find the show to be a very superficial and watered-down attempt. But that's going to happen; the book was by design very anti-mainstream and aimed at a niche audience, and the show is a mainstream mass-market TV show. They can't even attempt most of the things the books covered. I will say, if people find the show to be outrageous and boundary-pushing they probably shouldn't read the book because they'd have a heart attack. The show is VERY tame compared to the book, no matter how "outrageous" it may be for a TV show.

Graphicness aside, though, I personally can't stand how most of the characters were changed for the show, not just their personalities but their entire storylines, to the point where again, they're very In Name Only. I'm impressed with how closely some of them are made to look like their counterparts in the comic but everything else about them is very, very different. It's like if someone did a Superman TV show, and Lois worked for American Airlines and Clark was adopted by astronauts and Jimmy Olsen was a pop singer. Even if they resemble the characters physically, Those Aren't The Characters.

Basically, it's one of those things where I can see why people who don't care about comics would like the show, but it's just so different in almost every single way that it annoys me they even share a title. But not everyone is going to feel that way, obviously.

It is what it is, it simply isn't for me as a huge fan of the books. It's like that Watchmen show that had practically nothing to do with Watchmen, stuff like that just bugs me. But again, that kind of thing happens. People who watch a lot of TV generally don't read, and people who fall in love with books (or comics) often find the TV and movie adaptations to be either overly simplified or missing the point. There's very little crossover between entertainment mediums, truthfully, because by definition the mediums appeal to different types of people with different standards of taste.

[Drose18]

Thanks for sharing, I can totally see the show having a completely different overall direction than what I heard of the comics.

I've been intrigued by the Butcher vs Homelander(& any/all vs Vaught) plot and It has definitely caught my interest through some of the drama along with the solid action.

[Leo656]

Like, in the books the entire "Why" of the conflict between those characters is entirely different. It's not a small thing, it changes absolutely everything, and the entire show is like that. Vought's motives are different, their rationale behind wanting to create "supes" is different, the timeline is different, every single character's backstories and motivations and relationships to every other character are different... they share character names/likenesses, and some of the "shock value" content. Past that it's like... well, as I said, they just really don't share much beyond those surface things. I've heard some people claim they're "technically the same" because both the book and the show go into graphic sex/drug humor but again, even the way they do that is so completely different, from motivation to execution, that they don't seem anything alike to me at all.

I can imagine I actually would have liked the show just fine if I'd never read the books before, but the book turned into one of my favorite comics ever and so any adaptation would have a high bar to clear in my mind. However, what little of the show I've seen isn't technically "bad" as its own thing and is way better and more tolerable than I'd feared, so there's that. I think it's fine in a vacuum for what it's trying to be, but I can't imagine anyone who likes the books a lot actually caring for it, same as Preacher. I know people who liked that show a lot, but anyone I know who loved the comic thought the show was awful. People who like those books would only ever be satisfied with a 1:1 adaptation, and TV and movies simply can't adapt those things faithfully.

That's when the conversation becomes about whether it's better to have an "In Name Only" adaptation that only maintains the broad strokes, or nothing at all. Everybody's going to have a different opinion on that, just in general.

[Andrew NDB]

Season 4 is coming.



Can't wait to see what Jeffrey Dean Morgan is going to be up to in this.

[Drose18]

Noir is back!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Drose18

Noir is back!

They might be pivoting back to the comics with that... and this Noir will be a brain damaged clone of Homelander.

[Drose18]

I felt like the trailer had some hints to that. A-train was holding a jar with blonde hair in it.

A-Train, The Deep, and Ashley all know Homelander killed Noir so I'd expect one of them to be at least curious how he is back.

I need to do more research I didn't recognize the two (new?) girls at the rally with Homelander / narrating at the beginning.

[CyberCubed]

These 2 year breaks between seasons is so ridiculous. I assume the show will end by Season 5 because the characters are getting too old.

[IMJ]

Someday when this show wraps up I'll finally get around to watching it beginning to end.

[LegionareX]

Homelander is such a complex character, and the whole concept of superheroes gone rogue is so refreshing. I haven't read the comics either, but the show has me hooked.

[Drose18]

The spin-off show, Gen V, was pretty awesome too. Some good mystery and twists I didn't see coming. Love how everything just gets absolutely ****ed up in the ending.

[Andrew NDB]

I'm a couple episodes into the new season. I see a lot of people proclaiming that this season, the show finally goes "full woke." idk. I see it a little bit. The most glaring example is the slow burn budding romance between Frenchie and Kimiko is -- seemingly out of nowhere -- completely abandoned as she friendzones him at exactly the same moment he decides to hook up with a dude. Also, comparing how the more nuanced and "both sides" the writing handled groups in the past vs. now how anyone who isn't a leftist (a Starlighter) must be a white supremist/bigot/nazi who is probably having sex with family members, too, because they're so stupid.

So I see it. That said, I don't mind it that much because the sharp, witty dialogue and unpredictable nature of the show lets me forgive it. I can forgive a lot if there is good writing.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

These 2 year breaks between seasons is so ridiculous. I assume the show will end by Season 5 because the characters are getting too old.

They've already announced season 5 will be the end.

[Drose18]

I'm liking this season so far. They've definitely gone after the right moreso here but I wouldn't go as far as calling the show woke. To me its all just fun nuanced social commentary similar to how South Park or Always Sunny handle this sort of stuff if not a bit more straightforward than those shows.

The plot lines following Kimiko and Frenchie really aren't all the interesting to me. At least Hughie's story here seems to be ramping up with

Spoiler:

his dad getting V at the end of Ep 4

Will be cool to see what happens. I feel confident that

Spoiler:

A-Train's meddling is going to be found out by Sage/Homelander, no way there aren't cameras in Homelander's apartment.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Drose18

The plot lines following Kimiko and Frenchie really aren't all the interesting to me.

Frenchie's is pure garbage. Kimiko's is meh, but if it ends with her starting to talk then it'll be worth it.

[Andrew NDB]

Saw the season finale. I thought it was a LITTLE weak in that it was a little slow for like a SEASON FINALE, but I was pleased. And I take it back about the Kimiko/Frenchie direction earlier... now I see where it was going. It all worked out well. I hope they stay the course.

Guaranteed if the Homelander actor wasn't making this show a phenomenon then his character would be already dead.

[CyberCubed]

It was a good season but I see a lot of criticism online is this all just felt like set-up for the last season. Other than Ashley taking the serum, the vice president dying, and Butcher at the end, a lot of the characters are still in the same place as they were.

A-train is still on the fence, Ryan is still accidentally killing people and not betraying his father, all the "heroes" just go back and forth and end up back at square one, and the other villains like The Deep, Black Noir, and the new ones like Sister Sage and the Jesus girl are still just there by the end of the season.

I realize they're likely saving most of the deaths for the final season.