I’m hearing some good early buzz about Alien Romulus. keeping in mind, a lot of people did like the other films recently, and have really only backtracked as time has progressed. Prometheus has a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Alien Covenant has a 65%. Alien Romulus currently has an 83%, which is considerably higher than the 56% of Alien Resurrection, and the 48% of Alien 3, however falls short of definitely short of alien and Aliens. So, take it for what it’s worth.
TV Shows Watched: Bad Monkey: S1E1 (Apple plus) with audio description by Laura Post, Time Bandits: S1E7 and S1 E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description by Roy Samuelson, Tales of the TMNT- S1E10 (Paramount Plus) with audio description by Wes, and Sonny S1E7 (Apple Plus) with audio description by Jedidiah Barton?
Podcasts (all through Apple Podcasts with Speed Modification): The NPR Politics podcast (Politics), Pod Save America (Politics), Smartless (Interview: Nikki Glazer), WTF With Marc Maron (interview: Moon unit Zappa), and The Cine-Files (Remembering Robin Williams)
Youtube: None.
Movies: None.
I’m not sure I have any deep thoughts on the shows, but I’ll break down my first impression of Bad Monkey’s audio description.
What I look For In The Audio Description: based on a crime novel by carl Iassen, this Florida based murder mystery is a narrative hopping dark comedy that slowly releases information with diffferent stories being told, that will somehow converge. the show opens with an arm being found on a fishing trip, and what happens after that. Vince Vaughn is a smart ass detective who is on suspension when we first meet him, suggesting he might color outside the lines a bit. He’s given a few side characters as friends, or as an ex-wife, but it is hard to determine how long any of them will last beyond the pilot, as it is unlikely any of them chopped the arm off. Meanwhile, we are also following a man native to the islands whose property is being bought up by people looking to build fancy hotels, and he is powerless to stop it. He is the one who has the monkey, which I assume will be integral to a show called Bad monkey. That introduces a non-verbal character to follow. On top of this, there’s a narrator for the show, who is also a character we meet briefly. So, any narration has to work around that.
What it Actually Does: the first episode is mostly set-up and character introductions, so you know who these side characters are, and to have a better understanding of Vince Vaughn in the lead role as the detective moving forward. there isn’t a clear definition of what might have happened, so this might be a little bit of a slow burn. It is hard to say what little pieces of information are really important, but they mostly verbalize anything that is out of the ordinary. However, a raccoon being hit by a truck is referenced in the audio description, which comes into play later. but, they twice verbalize the importance of red lights for baby sea turtles, instead of the narration needing to cover the red light. the arm found is found with a very specific finger raised, which could be a clue, though many verbally write it off as random rigor mortis. It feels like we’re getting enough clues, but I have no idea where this is headed. Laura Post gets a lot of work, but she’s a fine choice here, because she’s right down the middle. There’s serious subject material here, but it is handled with the usual snarky tone you would expect from Vince Vaughn.
Final Thoughts: Overall, I’m optimistic both about the series, and the audio description for it. The first episode is very much an introductory episode, and we don’t cut too deep with the surprises.