It sounds like you might prefer to wait until the season is over and binge it.

The teasers and featurettes are the way Apple tries to create social media buzz rather than relying on the YouTubers to manufacture their own trailers.

That’s happening anyway, and there’s a it of AI slop. For those who want that stuff, my preference is to post the official ones.

Our youngest just did a TNG rewatch a couple of months ago so I think I’ll go for Voyager instead.

Godzilla: The Series was an animated US follow up to the rather universally loathed Godzilla 1998.

However, there was also an anime Godzilla Monster Planet Trilogy made in Japan.

The recumbent stationery exercise bike in our family room is the reason I watch as much television as I do.

It’s not intense exercise but it really adds up.

One of our kids recently suggested doing a TNG or Voyager rewatch again with me. It may be time.

Season two is interesting.

Among other things, the two youngest Randas are in very contrasting places psychologically since Kentaro has had two years between seasons while Cate is dealing with the reality that others have had time to move on psychologically and she has not. (I really like season two Kentaro.)

I’m watching Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (M:LOM) which is in the midst of its second season on AppleTV.

And…my partner finally conceded to give the show a try. So, I’m rewatching season one with them. They say, based on being in the middle of season one that it’s the thing they’re enjoying most on tv just now.

While M:LOM does have creatures and kaiju battles, like the best Star Trek, the show’s emphasis is on its diverse characters and their stories.

The show has all the high quality we’ve come to expect of both AppleTV and Legendary Entertainment (Dune) science fiction productions.

M:LOM is designed as an entry point for those unfamiliar with the Monsterverse continuity or the 70+ year Godzilla franchise more generally. The action shifts back and forth between telling the stories of two generations: one in the mid 2010s and the other in the 1950s. It works well as it comes together at the end of season one.

If the show works for you, please check out our newest community https://startrek.website/c/monsterverse.

Welcome!

I had no recollection there was a Hanna Barbera cartoon but the title The Godzilla Power Hour does ring a vague bell. Being a bit older my introduction was an afterschool monster movie broadcast on a local US crossborder station while the Showa films were still deemed ok for a young afternoon television audience.

Your experience reflects what I think is the great thing about Legendary Entertainment and Apple bringing the Monsterverse to television. With AppleTV’s reputation for high quality science fiction, it’s encouraging audiences and demographics to give the show a chance who might otherwise pass on anything from the longstanding broader Godzilla franchise.

You may not be familiar with the truly awful US film Godzilla (1998). The general view is that it was so bad and so disrespectful of the IP kaiju that had been licensed from Toho — the producer of the Japanese films and IP owner — that Toho became very strict in its licensing of the IP from then on, with covenants about how Godzilla and other Toho creations could be used narratively. Legendary Entertainment has been using the licensed kaiju carefully in its movies and shows, but has also been adding new creatures to provide original elements.

M:LOM seems to be performing as well in Japan as well as elsewhere. Flix Patrol hs the show ranked number one in AppleTV in Japan every week since the season premiere. There’s an earlier post with feature article from the Japan Times that you might like to check out.

Given that they regularly eat the fuzz off of deer antlers* after they are shed, I am open to any odd dietary choices from porcupines.

*this odd porcupine factoid was of great amusement to one of our kids when they were of kindergarten age and liked to play the “guess what animal I am game.”

It’s a stretch at this point, but that’s part of the fun of spitballing based on what we have so far…

The article notes that Billy Randa found, in the cave, what appeared to be a migratory route through the oceans.

That’s what set him off on his archival research hunt when he left Keiko and Lee in the fishing village. However, since he abandoned that search and returned to get them, it’s not clear whether Billy ever followed through on pursuing that lead.

Changes in ocean temperatures and currents due to climate change are well known and would be something to impact Titan X aka Le Gran Dios de la Mar aka Co-cai and her offspring.

While it’s speculation at this point, having Co-cai be a threat, despite being a positive influence for fishing communities in the past, would be entirely consistent with the franchise’s previous themes around humanity’s impact on the Earth.

The other thing is that many had expected this season to feature Mothra due to it being her 65th anniversary. EP Tony Tunnell has said she won’t be appearing though, and the timing wouldn’t really work with Mothra’s later movie appearance in this continuity. So, perhaps Co-cai may be fulfilling a ecological protector narrative arc originally planned for Mothra.

Glad the Fansets SFA combadges are coming out right away with both pins and magnets.

I still have vivid memories of trawling through the vendors at a 2019 local Comic Con, with our youngest and 45 k other attendees, looking for a Disco S2 combadge with magnet that didn’t actually exist.

There was really only one piece of merch that youngest wanted and naturally it was not to be found.

Yup — it’s not just about enormous monsters fighting.

That said, characters, emotions and anything that isn’t action scenes is often underrepresented in American takes on the franchise.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters from Legendary Television on AppleTV is intended to be an entryway to the franchise. You can start with season one without any previous knowledge.

Likewise, the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One from Toho, a 70th anniversary return to the original 1954 scenario, is another great entry point.

Filion made unfortunate statements defending Joss Wheadon and arguing that he should be “uncanceled.’’

https://nypost.com/2022/06/23/nathan-fillion-wants-joss-whedon-uncanceled-so-they-can-work-together-again/

https://insidethemagic.net/2022/06/nathan-fillion-joss-whedon-controversy-ct1/

There are widespread reports of toxicity between Fillion and his Castle costar Stana Kari’s.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/20230131163149/nathan-fillion-feud-co-star-stana-katic-details-castle/

In 2019, a cast member of The Rookie quit citing sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rookie-star-quits-claims-she-faced-sexual-harassment-racial-discrimination-1229109/

I’ll be curious to know if episode 3 hits better for you.

It seems that there was a decision to respond to the ‘more action, more monsters’ complaints about season one from the movie franchise fans.

In a conversation that I saw elsewhere, there were points made regarding some fairly cringey elements in the original seasons that would not be well received by progressive audiences now. However, reworking these would invite backlash.

It’s a fine thing to thread around and it’s not obvious that the creators or Fillion are up for it. Fillion in particular has managed to alienate a lot of fans in the past decade.

This looks to be a nonstarter, especially after Hulu cancelled the Buffy reboot. Disney seems to be reigning in and focusing now that it has full control of Hulu.

If the IP was owned by WB or Paramount/CBS, it might have a chance, but this appears to be more of a case of Fillion and the some of the original creators trying to make a case to use the IP than any interest from Disney.

Actually, yes.

It has very high viewership globally. It was top ranked on Apple in the US and Asia, and much of Europe, although relatively less in CANZUK countries where the Togo Godzilla franchise is less well known.

However, as always, there are personal preferences.

It has the AppleTV resources so, the vfx and Titan action scenes are always excellent.

As a live-action television show, it leans more to mystery/skullduggery and character drama compared to a cinematic feature. Also, the first season is designed as an entry point for audiences and demographics with no previous experience with the franchise so it’s a slow build.

If you enjoyed Kong: Skull Island, you will likely enjoy this show.

All this means is that if all you want to see is kaiju fighting, this may not be for you.

And for me.

One always thinks there will be time. Regrettably, we have to learn the lesson through experience, some of us more than once.

I am going to admit right now that one of the reasons the I’m endeavouring to create a space here to discuss Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (M:LOM) and the Monsterverse, is because the show on AppleTV is getting a lot of coded and outright brigading from some of the same sort of fans in the US specifically.

Legendary Pictures and Television creators have done their best to bring to American, English language Godzilla productions the kind of emotional narratives that were always present in Japanese Godzilla productions no matter the restrictions of an action-focused cinematic feature. (I confess my own fan history with the franchise is with the older Japanese production eras and continuities.)

With 10 episode seasons, M:LOM has plenty of time for complex multigenerational character narratives and is delivering, filling in the gaps in bigger cinematic events. With women in major roles in front and behind the camera, LGBTQ and other representation, it’s intentionally working to draw in a broader demographic with a new entry point. It’s also succeeding in its ranking on AppleTV to the point a spinoff will start production this June.

Yet, it’s got a steady stream of posts along the lines of “I don’t really like those characters, do you?” and “Why are those young people making stupid choices?”

M:LOM’s clear themes of “hurt people hurt people” and consequences for actions are challenging but important, much as the Psychology Today piece says.

Taking on these themes and showing flawed three dimensional characters struggling through them in the context of multigenerational trauma makes for great genre television — providing the “they’re making my franchise woke” voices don’t swamp the show.