"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy." - George Orwell, 1984
"She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately-unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly. You would hardly recognize her if you saw her. All her rebelliousness, her deceit, her folly, her dirty-mindedness - everything has been burned out of her."
Sshe was a terrible character.SHow itself was alright. THat MI5 director or whoever he was should have jujst told her to shut the fuck up and do as she is told.
Normal corporations will ruthlessly pursue industrial espionage cases, but corporations that deal with military technology will just eliminate leaks with prejudice. Like the Boeing whistle blowers. Regardless of whether giving the third world digital files on how to build nanotechnology would help them in some way, or lead to their destruction, or just be met with indifference.
That, and if she even mentioned the possibility of leaking sensitive information like that, she'd no doubt be promptly arrested for violated the NDA she certainly signed, plus violations to national security.
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
I quit during the first episode: Two female scientists visit a bar, a nice guy approaches them politely and they respond with blatant contempt. I'm so done with this demonic portrayal of basic human interactions.
@@RobNeeth no, the scene is in the video at 11:10. These diabolical men hating writers turn a perfectly normal interaction between a man and two women into something very ugly.
I honestly don't care about most of these modern bastardisations but your videos are just so informative and entertaining. Definitely one of the best critic TH-camrs out there.
I also enjoyed the source material differences and explanations that the Despot provided. I found the Despot after I watched the first 3 episodes of Rings of Power when it was released. I was thinking, "this series sux. Is it just me thinking this way?" That day I found the Despot, Nerdrotic, and the Critical Drinker. I prefer watching hours of reviews than watching the product itself. It is much more entertaining. I have a fear of missing a gem, but these guys' opinions have saved me from watching crap. I will watch movies they recommend... Sisu... that recommendation was from RLM... who I discovered years ago thinking "the star Wars prequels weren't very good. Am I the only one who thinks this way?"... and then I found Mr Plinketts review of EP1.
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
@@OOL-UV2 Or it would be like Gain of Function research, weird labs, glassware drops, scientists eager to keep the money flowing, MSM pretends it doesn't exist etc.
@@DespotofAntrimI find it terrifying what exactly they told us about that boat scene. Think about it, they wrote it from their perspective and they don't have any qualms in attacking without provocation, not planning anything ( putting unmasked pillars right from the water in a part of the canal where everyone would look at the shore to be sure they don't hit something, not planing planing how to protect from cutting the "thingy" they have been looking for) and destroying everything ( families and children) if they show the slightest opposition.
The infinite irony of Hollywood telling the impoverished working class how they should solve the world's problems while they sit on thier piles of gold
@@the_inquisitive_inquisitor ah yes, that worked out well in the past, every single time it's been done. just like communism, which im sure you abhor because of historical reasons. gotta love demagogues.
Auggie is the "perfect" netflix version of a woman : bossy, obnoxious, she is also emotionally weak so you better walk on eggshells around her. I wouldnt mind that character if they had normal man who can put her in her place.
I highly recommend reading the first book. It will join u instantly. The girl in the beginning is what hooked me on the book. But she didnt dir instantly. The way it was described was amazing. Ahe was sitting there being lit up and its said the bullets felt like rain drops that had more force behind them to jerk her body around. The opening of the first book sums up communism so well and its SHOCKING how much like the left it really was.
@@jamiespinks3657 Tbf I liked it. People usually just act like comic book writing is great when in reality its atrocious. I welcome when they change things.
The only mistake the dude in the bar made was not to reply "That sounds fascinating! I'm not knowledgable in the topic. but please feel free to tell me more about that." Because any true scientist *loves* to talk about their work/research. Trust me on that. ;)
@@ExpertContrarian In the context the show provided, yeah. The show is just unrealistic for that. That's what I'm saying. No one would try to deter someone from a conversation by opening with a topic they are deeply passionate about.
I thought the point was the guy was just some regular dude and they were talking down to him, because it IS becoming normal for women to bristle at being approached by a man unless it's a man they had decided in advance they wanted to approach them.
I can't stand that kind of performance as it is.. the overly neurotic, unthreatening nerd, pretending to be confident and outspoken by refusing to shut up. And that's all eisenberg can do.
@@georgeray1906 Luthor is supposed to be cunning, dangerous yet controlled, and extremelly manipulative, being socially inept wouldnt fly whit Luthor. To portray Luthor is like portraying Batman or Superman, you have to find the RIGHT actor.
Speaking as an experienced programmer -- when someone asks me what I do, I tell them, "I'm a programmer". I don't prattle on like an insecure child who mistakes @$$hole for confidence. If I could dumb down my response even further, I would. What I do for a living never comes up with my family or friends unless they speak about something in that domain. This means 99.99% of the time, I don't mention any detail about my job. Who TF does that?
Was thinking exactly the same thing. I say just I'm a programmer, I don't start flexing on my projects and accomplishments when I've just met someone socially. How utterly obnoxious, have none of the writers ever interacted socially with female scientists, or any educated people for that matter? And what, should should only less educated women ever get approached by men?
The answer I usually gave was "I work with computers" or "I work in I.T." (because in most white collar companies, everyone works with computers). People with no interest in technology don't ask any more questions. If they are actually interested, I'll go into details.
The scriptwriters that have exactly ZERO life experience and they write in what they have said when they have been 12 years old. Honestly now, that seemed cool in my mind when I was 12 but it sounded cringe after that age.
Oh my sweet, sugar-free, Colombian, Vanilla fudge, overpriced, almond milk, gender-neutral, net zero frappe. Wow, just wow. Tell me you're not a casting director without telling me you're not a casting director. Eisenberg's high-pitched, soy-boy, mentally challenged depiction of Luther is a perfect representation of modern youth and villainy. His laugh-based vigour and theoretical intelligence combined with the humour of a nervous toddler make him a phenomenal choice to combat an unstoppable alien symbol of moral duty. Literally, the only better choice would have been Chris Stuckmann.
Great stuff as always Despot. Casting Eisenberg as Luthor is like casting Danny Devito as Jack Reacher, you dont even need to watch or listen, you can look at a photo and go "what the fffuu.."
I am still trying to figure out why the books are considered good personally. The basic plot starts okay but then goes deus ex stupid with the nano technology.
@@crakhaed I can't take credit for that name, he's actually a TH-camr that talks about old and new MMA stuff, and he has a voice like liquid gold, mmmm mmm!!!
I'm really not surprised this show's writing is considered smart, since we share oxygen with people who think George Floyd was murdered, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black men and Nelson Mandela was a peaceful revolutionary that didn't kill a shit ton of black people.
George Floyd is at best a case of police incompetence and questionable use of restraint techniques. Agree on Kyle Rittenhouse and I haven’t looked into Nelson Mandela.
A much better sci fi show that actually portrays adults as intelligent, determined, focused, and well intentioned but morally gray, while not losing focus on the sci fi aspects is the Expanse. I have not read the books, but judging the show on its own merits, it is quite compelling. It’s a great example of how sci fi shows should be, not the lazy, seen-it-before shit that is modern Star Trek and Star Wars, or the pretentious, box checking, ‘adults written by adults with the minds of children’ that is shows like this and Rebel Moon. Highly recommend the Expanse
My favorite sci-fi show! I love the actual science parts plus the political maneuvering that would absolutely be all over human expansion into space. Add to that brilliant casting and talented actors makes it compelling, even on rewatching.
It was good for 2-3 seasons, but then they felt the need to lower the stakes tremendously and leave the most interesting and compelling plot threads forever hanging in the air. Instead, it veers off into being about a normal human terrorist who takes a ridiculously long time to be defeated.
Immediately after i read, "a show that portrays adults as intelligent..." I knew you were talking about the expanse. It's so sad that in a decade, no other sci-fi show even comes close. Please if I'm wrong I'll love a recommendation.
The fact you included Napoleon's clip just elevated you from despot to God Emperor. Love both you're channels and you should now systematically take control of all major studios
@@crakhaed it's not Despots channel. It's Napoleon Blownapart, no joke one of the most underrated content creators. He does MMA videos, history's other shit long form. Just another dude who's passion and style are undeniable. Def recommend a sub
Snyder's Lex Luthor was a self insert. The quirks and hair were exaggerated. However, Snyder really believes he's a genius. It makes sense he completely changed the characterization. I have no doubt, had the Snyderverse gone on, he would have ended up saving the day somehow.
Imagine if Lex Luthor didn’t even get out of his chair when confronted by Superman, lights up a cigar, and nonchalantly explains the situation involving Doomsday, all the while exuding a dark calm and subtly menacing energy. He should always be in control of his demeanor, or his surroundings, and should never give way to jittery and anxious seeming emotions or cadences.
I'm reminded of the pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Miami in 2018, which was immediately followed by the engineering design company scrubbing all of their "All-Female Engineering team!" promotional material from their website. Apparently the claims weren't even true to begin with.
Haven't heard of the books or the show, just here to listen to The Despot for an hour and change. Learned something I didn't know, so I'll count it as time well spent.
I liked that movie, even if I agree that it has a lot of flaws. But as someone who is not really into the deep lore of both characters, I liked the bizarre angle Snyder came from when adapting them for his movies. Was it a good adaptation? It seems like it is not. Is it a movie I can enjoy? Yes, even with its many missteps. But I also understand Superman and Batman fans disliking it.
@@DespotofAntrim it has to do with nepotism and an incestuous industry that elects not by following talent but ideology alone. And even the few ones who have potential soon sink into that swampland.
Thomas Sowell is a treasure. Vision of the Anointed is an essential read. In a saner society it would be mandatory for all college students. The Quest for Cosmic Justice is another great take.
I dont know much about chinese sci fi novels but my cat was a street cat 5 years ago but now it is comfortable enough to come to me by itself while im in bed so i can pet it 😊.
Oggie is a crime against humanity and the "fascist" rich guy gets things done, take iniative, responsibility, and puts his neck and resources on the line for the greater good of humanity
Our channel is based in Canada. It's truly shaking to hear a Scot make a joke reference to our "healthcare" system when talking about the self-deletion in 3-Body Problem. Canada is almost completely the world envisioned in 1984.
@@billjacobs521 Oops! It was 50/50 call, Irish or Scot lol. We're over here working to try to get enough people out of their stupor and save Canada. There are great signs, especially in the province of Alberta. Elections next year, so we'll see what happens.
13:42 _"a country kilometre³"_ Better yet, a country quettametre. Thanks to the Metric system's November 2022 update, we can now express distances using a unit greater than the width of the observable universe... for some reason.
@Gyrfalcon312 Wait, why was I using metres when parsecs exist? 😂 A quettaparsec in metres is 30856776 followed by 39 zeroes. That's so ridiculously huge, it renders the unit effectively useless, because one quettaparsec is 7012,9036,3636,3636,3636.363636 (etc; "36" is a repetend) observable universes wide. Hey Despot, I found you an upgraded superlative. 😃 A country quettaparsec is... probably the size of God, or Zack Synder's misplaced confidence.
Naw, only one CEO has the ability to communicate the charisma and dark energy of Lex Luthor, and that is Tim Cook. He proved his acting chops in Apple’s propaganda piece that the Despot has already covered. ;D
I don't entirely agree. The recasting of characters by itself isn't a problem. The problem is either incompentence or whatever twisted logic was responsible for the choice of actors. There are plenty of older actors, male and female that can project the gravitas of a leading nano-scientist. But noone competent would have "young model with no experience" as their main choice, just like noone cast a toned bodybuilder as Oppenheimer. The characters predictably devolve into sitcom templates, just like several other low quality shows on netflix. Some Korean shows suffer from the same problem, trying to cast former boyband members into "serious" roles they are no experience or competence for.
I think the big problem is that people don't carry themselves the same way, even amongst men. Anthony Hopkins, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both played characters with gravitas but Hopkins is no Terminator and Arnold would be an awful Lecter. Women can deliver commanding performances but not just by acting like men- that's probably why generally older actresses do it better they've got the life and work experience to know what actual confidence and power looks like.
Seeing Sowell referenced in any cultural commentary gives me genuine hope for the future. That man needs to be on the forefront of basically any political and social conversation.
I hate gender swaps as much as the next guy, but being a fanatic lab rat type isn't an exclusively male trait. I work with lots of fellow male and female lab rats and it mostly comes down to their life style and priorities, but I'd disagree on this one point- because I do know a lot of women who are obsessive about their studies in lab. All of them could have acted this role out better too
If you paid attention till the end of this very sentence, you would hear that ir was about the fact that dedicated scientists never looks like Instagram model who confuses sleeping around irresponsibly for career choices
@@a.b3203 not really, in fact the medical research lab I most recently worked at was a 80% female work force, including the top 3 lab directors being composed of 2 women and my male boss. Yes the female workers with children obviously wouldn't do crazy 16 hour shifts I'd be pulling to get my thesis done, but they'd still pull an hour or 2 of over time to get their work done. I figure this is anecdotal of course, but even in uni- my class was comprised of a 9:1 female to male proportion (medical sciences and biotechnology) and indeed a lot of our professors were women scientists too. I'm not a feminist I actually fought an on campus feminist speaker when she made the claim "women are oppressed in STEM" by stating the above, because we aren't oppressed but to say that no woman or that a small minority aren't as adept of being over focussed and consumed by their work is a stretch imo.
Well you're all crazy but not all ridiculous fanatics. It's not leftist that's the issue, it's the cultural Marxism. And "leftist" can mean anything from moderate left to radical, just like "right wing" goes from Conservative to Fascist, and the left thinks they are all the same thing. Although as usual the extremes are closer to each other than he moderates are.
@@lordfarquaad8601 So is racism or ethnic hatred inherently right wing then? Historically nationalism has included racism and ethnic hatred; especially, in Central Europe and the Balkans.
I don't understand how this was even made. The main chick character sounds like she is literally destroying humanity on purpose and everyone is supposed to just be cool with it?
ONE casting switch I can think of that went "white" was Rico from Starship Troopers, in the book he's Filipino. Casper Van Dien killed it for what the film was aiming for, highly different than the Rico we get in the novel but so was the overall plot.
Mexico is a fairly developed country with a lot of industry , highways , urban centers etc. Ongoing civil war non withstanding. It always rubs me the wrong way when it's portayed as if it were Haiti.
It's sort of funny; the very people you'd generally think would want to depict second and third world countries accurately are the very ones who instead make them as pathetic as possible so they can either lionize them or guilt-trip the first world. Every depiction of Africa we get is 100% huts in the wilderness, too.
I could be wrong, but unless you're a huge name, you audition based off of vague prompts and read a given script, most of the time. She may not have even known the specific role she was auditioning for, or she may have auditioned for a different role but they offered her this one. And even when given the official offer, she may not have really known the role, like "brb, I'm going to read a whole book before I reply." If the director/casting director say you're good for the part they have in mind, I don't generally blame anyone for taking it, and expecting them to quit, throwing away money and possibly tanking their career, just because they might later realize they are a bad fit is sort of unreasonable. The times I do blame an actor is when they had to have known, because it's their movie or they came back for a terrible sequel, something like that.
Yes, you are definitely my favorite youtuber now. You are also very underrated as well. I will fix that! After I become a nurse and get my own money, I become a channel member. I have just finished my access course, so I still have 4 more years to go. Plz continue posting great videos like this until I become financially dependent. 🙏
Having read the Three Body series, I don't understand how you could adapt the story with Western characters. The entire outlook and philosophy of the series is deeply rooted in Chinese anti-Communism. You cannot separate the first book from the Cultural Revolution.
Thank you! As a fan of the novels I was shocked that people found this adaptation as anything other than an insult to the books. Watch the Chinese version, it's actually quite good.
W krajach gdzie niema wolności słowa autorzy muszą ukrywać to co chcą powiedziedz przez niedopowiedzenia , metafory, aluzje. Dla widzów z tych krajów są one cytelne jednocześnie natyle ukryte ze cenzura pozwala je opublikować.@@henryneubert7798
I love your videos, Lord Despot. They're always interesting and insightful. But this one truly shines as a magnificent display of your talents for both writing and analysis. Keep up the good work. We eagerly await your conquest of Hollywood, followed by the world.
11:24 who invented this trope of "guy asks a question, woman answers with smug word salad to make him look stupid." I remember seeing it as far back as I, Robot but at least then the actress didn't come off as spiteful, which seems to be the more common outcome. I think it's the usual problem of dumb people trying to write smart people with an added dose of "go girl."
It's also not even a confusing word salad lol. If the dude really wanted to talk to them, he'd have asked more questions. "You make self-replicating materials? Interesting, now how does that work? Is there a default molecular structure that the material wants to return to, or is it maintained by outside forces like nanomachines?" But nope, as usual dum dum male #6 just pulls the surprised Pikachu face and disappears
@@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese You act like no men are dumb, or that even if he was smart enough to understand, he may have been a few beers in or just not interested in women clearly being cows.
It worked in I, Robot because she absolutely wasn't talking down to the protagonist- she's so used to talking to fellow scientists that she forgets not everyone is as well versed in robotics as she is. If anything, the joke is just as easily on her for forgetting that the protagonist has no reason to fully understand her technobabble. It also helps there's a scene where the shoe's on the other foot when she can't figure out how to operate a tape deck. Far more balanced than later incarnations of this trope.
Your videos always give me a chuckle. A few months ago I was visiting Melbourne and walked all over listening to your videos, and last weekend I walked all over Sydney doing the same. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Furiosa, but at the same time depressed to hear what has become of one of my country's best cultural exports.
Hey man thanks a lot for the tip! Furiosa is good, not great, it's too long and you really feel the run time. On a positive note Furiosa's failure is another blow to the insufferable girl boss trope, even though Furiosa is not herself a girl boss.
I haven't read the books myself, but even just from reading summaries I could tell the third one seemed profoundly nihilistic and pretty dumb in a lot of places, like the idiot woman being given the killswitch and then doesn't she throw it away almost immediately? And then she isn't killed for betraying humanity in such a way even after all the chaos happens, and then she's like one of the only people that survive the extinction event because she gets picked as the person to leave on the one working light speed spaceship so she's only of the only remaining humans in the universe, then after everything in the universe is blown to hell and some wacked out universal reset event is happening she decides that blowing up the final gift someone gave her and 2 others of a pocket dimension where they were safe is the right idea-deciding to end this separate pocket space where they were safe and just 'eh...time to end it all'
The whole series revolves around answering the Drake Equation and Fermi Paradox. It’s meant to be realistic about life in the galaxy, not necessarily nihilistic. She doesn’t live in the end. No one does. The entire galaxy is collapsing into 2 dimensions. Advanced species use dimensional super weapons that obliterate higher dimensions, forcing all the galaxy lower and lower. The galaxy started in like the 10th dimension. Our 3d world is a result of multiple mass galactic extinction events.
If everyone around her wasn't acting like she farted pixie dust I would not have minded her but the fact she was so beloved made the book impossible to finish. The first two, with the exception of the romantic plot tumor of the second, were entertaing though.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 Sounds really stupid sci-fi. Then again I wondered all through the TV show why the sophon couldn't just murder everyone as it could interact with the world and I did get an explanation here even if it sounds like the books goes even more magic sci-fi.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 Except the setting isn't realistic as it presupposes intelligent alien life will be universally actively hostile due to limited resources within the universe, thus relegating every intelligent lifeform to the same cosmic ecological niche: apex predator. This is, quite simply, stupid as it forces the animalistic desires of life to the forefront in the only psyches equipped to ignore these instincts. Humanity is the dominant lifeform on Earth not solely due to our capacity for barbarity, but our ability to cooperate and form communities. We trade with other cultures, we cultivate plants, and we domesticated animals to mutual benefit. In a universe where life arose in different environs, different cosmic survival strategies would exist and many of them would involve mutualism or commensalism instead of the trilogy's view that parasitism is the only viable strategy. The 3-Body Problem ignores this entirely.
@@CastFromHitPoints you’re acting like Star Trek is a perfectly accurate depiction of alien life. That Vulkans are the common alien instead of xenomorphs. The Dark Forest isn’t unrealistic, your idealistic view of compassionate and tolerant aliens is completely unrealistic to me. It’s just wishful thinking, that’s it.
Hell yes, i just came to check last night to see if there was anything new. There wasn't so i rewatched some older videos. And now here you are just as i finish with Sauron Tate and Stand-in Legolas again. 😀
One question I had while watching the show, and may be explained in the books. But when the trisolarans are being read children stories from earth. I thought it was the trisolarans trying to understand humanity better, but apparently they couldn’t even comprehend what a story was. So did the trisolarans really believe everything that was being told to them this whole time? Did they think that all fantasy stories were concrete histories from earth? Why would they never question the stories until Red Riding Hood? How did these readings even begin? It all seems really silly, but again if there is another explanation I’d want to hear it. Cause it makes the trisolarans look pretty stupid.
Basically yes, and no its not inherently stupid, if your species doesnt have the ability to "lie". They didnt heard about other fantasy stories. So it makes kinda sense.
@@GreenSabre187My question was: 1.) How did this storytelling start? Either the trisolarans would ask for children’s stories specifically, or Mike Evans/Ye Wenjie would propose the idea without explanation what they are. 2.) How and why wouldn’t the trisolarans not question any of the stories up until Red Riding Hood? You’re telling me that they would never question the realism or logical consistency of Jack and the Bean-stock, Pinocchio, Three Little Pigs, Wizard of Oz, Gingerbread Man, or any number of children’s stories in popular media? It makes me believe that the trisolarans were seriously detailing earth’s resources in magical plants, talking animals, and animating inanimate objects. Never asking any questions until that point.
@@GreenSabre187 It's pretty stupid. Deception is one of the key survival tactics of life. We're really saying this Type II - III civilization capable of interstellar travel has never even _considered_ the possibility of things not being what they seem? This suggests that, in the history of their race, not one of them has ever been deceived or used deception, not even while they were still a developing species. Even if they saw deception as a cultural taboo, they would understand it as a possibility -- so this cannot be the case. It's basically saying that everything they have ever theorized turned out to be correct. That nothing they ever surveyed was anything other than what it seemed to be. In thousands, millions, possibly billions of years of progression and adaptation, they never once learned to broaden their expectations to include outcomes they previously thought unlikely, something scientists have to do regularly. All that time without one single instance of deviousness. That's just not possible. I know this isnt Earth, but it doesn't really matter. Survival of the fittest doesn't change.
The concept of not understanding an un-truth is hard for me to swallow, honestly. It's just too stupid for words, unless it's like a hivemind species where it's actually impossible to lie or hide information from one another. Like, they have scientists, so they've surely had theories, aka, people suggested things that turned out to not be true, so they must therefore understand the concept of an un-true statement. It's especially odd for a brutal, totalitarian race that has dissenters, instead of like some super-pacifistic advanced race you might see in Star Trek where they've evolved a billion years past the need to lie.
You've completely, completely, missed the point of Cheng Xin, and her being elected as Swordholder. Every decision she made was the more moral, and made with the knowledge she had at the time. Only with hindsight can we say any of her decisions were poor. And saying any art received from Trisolaris would be considered as psy-op is a hell of a reach. The entire point of humanity trusting Trisolaris was to show our arrogance. At that point humanity had the upper hand, it had been decades past and we'd been conditioned to believe that they were simply trying to survive. Also, you know, at that point humans believed that TRISOLARANS ARE INCAPABLE OF LYING. Did you miss that entire plot point? They didn't know deception was in their toolbox, and had no reason to suspect it, since they'd also diverted course and weren't even coming anymore anyway. They figured out light speed travel after. Also, yes, humanity were arrogant and naive and Cheng Xin made the wrong decisions, but from what perspective? The larger point of the novels is that the dark forest state is not sustainable, that making destructive, ruthless and nihilistic decisions are not good for life as a whole. As illustrated by the dual vector strike, which goes on inifinitely and destroys the sender itself. Cheng Xin could have pushed the button, but then she'd be dooming two civilizations. She made the moral choice. Every decision Cheng Xin made was "wrong", but they were also "good". They could have selflishly stayed in the pocket universe, but instead chose to sacrifice theirs so the next could be reborn. The "wrong" decisions for themselves but the "good" decision. Do you understand? Sorry dude, your criticims of the book are poor. You've completely missed what the author was going for, and are getting too hung up on what "should" have happened in the author's imagined universe rather than the larger points being made. Logic nitpicks are the lowest form of criticism, honestly. You can do better. While I like Dark Forest the most Death's End is a fantastic end to the trilogy, and wraps the theme of the series up beautifully. Cheng Xin is a great character, not because of her personality but became of what she represents. The last flicker of light in a dark and endless universe. The series was a poor adaption as well. Didn't capture an oune of the dread of the book.
Eisenberg is a good actor but he should never have been cast as Luthor, it immediately turned me off to seeing the movie at all. Luthor as a character is completely amoral, jealous & power hungry yet is still presented as the nigh perfect male specimen married to extreme intellect & charisma…he’s what Bruce Wayne could have become without a strong moral compass & allies like Alfred to keep him humble/centered. I never felt any of that with Eisenberg, it just looked like a kid putting on his dad’s suit jacket.
An ancient king, called "Erc" by name He ruled the land, that was his fame And County Antrim was his claim 'Twas then called "Dalriada". - from "Dalriada" copyright by Truman Keesey
It's funny about Jesse Eisenberg... All he had to do was just be exactly like he was in The Social Network... That would have been the PERFECT note for Lex.
Ep 4-5-6-7 is sooooo boring the just keep talking with that handicapped guy and then he gets shot into space and dies directly! Why invest in this boring boring guy and then kill him of? I can't even. OMG the Fifth Element is soo good, I am going to watch it again tonight!
Look, I'm just gonna say this: if you have a machine the size of a proton that you can use to sabotage an entire planet and that planet's main species has no way to defend against or even detect it, you've already won. Moreover, if you can use quantum entanglement to place that machine 4 lightyears away instantly, you have broken through a layer of technological prowess with boundaries simply unimaginable to humankind. I find it hard to believe that within 400 years, you wouldn't be able to replicate this process with larger subjects, like robots or Trisolaran soldiers. At that point, Earth and our solar system would be a speck compared to their total available reach. They could settle and populate any planet they wanted easily. The Trisolarans would not consider humanity as anywhere near their equal. Why would they even speak to us? It would be like a human warning a squirrel that we're going to take down its tree. That would be silly. They would wipe us out in an afternoon without a warning or a second thought. Not trying to ruin anyone's enjoyment of it, but this just irked the hell out of me. I couldn't finish the books because of it. And think that D&D got ahold of it after that.... they took something farfetched and and made it downright stupid.
In fairness to the third book, part of the reason the Cold War lasted so long was because of the election of several leaders who were very weak on foreign policy and overly trusting of the Soviet Union.
Thank you for this analysis. I saw very few people discuss the numerous issues you have highlighted here and it irked me to no end. I thoroughly enjoyed these books and the only other channel that discusses them is Quinn's Ideas but he wears rose-tinted glasses about it. I truly wish you would do an indepth analysis of the books. Masterful work.
Haha you refused to watch the Tencent version because of 'state censorship'? That's pious and worthy of you. It's a family show, you'd know if you'd watched it, in the Chinese edition of the book the struggle session occurs in the middle of the book, in the Red Coast flashbacks. In the show there's a scene with Ye and her dad on his deathbed during the cultural revolution where they share a few words and he dies, as the result of being fatally struggle sessioned. It's not as explicit as the book/Netflix show but it's there and the characterisation of Ye is (consequently) much better in the Tencent show. She doesn't shag the Silent Spring guy and Mike Evans, and the scene with the Trisolaran traitor is put into the virtual reality game to be witnessed in the last episode, with the ETO's interpretation of what the aliens look like. It's excellent. You can't watch it now without paying for Tencent membership so whatever, you'll never know. Atomic girl is also great in the Tencent show. It's a family show, smart Chinese six year olds could watch it, the Netflix version isn't either family friendly nor smart, unless your family's weird. You didn't pick up on the wrecking of Sophon. Where did the Trisolarans get her design from? In the books she doesn't appear until the third novel, the one which you despise, and she's initially a peace envoy, no sword, just tea ceremonies. If you don't like the third book then I guess it doesn't mean so much that they've wrecked her 'dramatic reversal' but for those of us that like the third book it stinks. Liu's 'trilogy' (plus) is fairly meta. The first book is 'mystery science fiction' (carrying on from the prequel 'Ball Lightning'), spooky Forteana and hard science. The second book is 'military science fiction', all from a non-Western perspective, and the third is 'cosmic science fiction', which has elements of surrealism as well as farce, then the spin-off 'fan novel' The Redemption of Time is pretty much 'comic book science fiction', with added fantasy, open comedy and sexual tension with a 'meta' 'fourth wall breaking' conclusion which was nerdgasmic. It all happened in a previous universe. Reminiscent of the ending to 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', the movies, where *spoiler* the universe is reset and Shinji emerges from the train station into 'our world'. The 10 to 1 dimensional/repeating universe isn't 'nihilistic' it's just standard Eastern mysticism, reincarnation, 'eternal return' etc. The aforementioned 'Evangelion' has a similar plot point with everyone being turned into 'an ecstatic oneness' ('tang'), losing their individual egos and senses of lonely individual suffering, a bit like the Changelings' home planet in DS9 too... ...so yes the third novel is somewhat farcical with the plot contrivances, to say the least, but I took it as ideological satire for the most part. Nobody killed Xin when they should've because they were 'evolved enlightened pacifists', although they had no trouble executing Wade. Hypocrites. This ideological nonsense crept into the series earlier with America and the UK being the only countries to veto the suspension of copyrights on intellectual property, then with the notion of 'escapism' being banned for no good reason. The books are filled with those wacky commie-centric asides, the veneration of the French Revolution and so on. Another thing you've missed by refusing to see the Tencent version is an AI Leonardo da Vinci acting suspiciously camp while using Duchamp's Fountain on a plinth as a seat, in the VR game. That was pretty wild. The Tencent version was great TV, practically a Chinese Twin Peaks in places (that short scene where the random scientist on protective lockdown gets a sophon in his eye and face-plants a glass coffee table, probably the most violent scene in the show, or atomic girl's equally-short fight scene on the train, not in the book. Memorable stuff). I hope Tencent can get their Dark Forest out before Netflix. Fun review. 👍
Chinese TV doesn't have age rating like Western TV, so brutal struggle session as portrayed in the book are not allowed on TV, but interestingly allowed in films, most recently in Forever Young (2018). In EP27 we do learned about how Ye's father died, he was murdered by a red guard just like in the book. Also in EP6 through the narrative from Da Shi we do learned about Ye's younger sister was the one who reported their father to the Cultural Revolution Group. In EP11 when the officer shows Ye the documents we can actually see what's on it, and it's basically Ye's sister denouncing her father. Netflix's depiction of Cultural Revolution only looks good during the struggle session, outside of it it was really cartoonish and laughable, meanwhile Tencent's Cultural Revolution, though the struggle session was never depicted, feels way more authentic and dreadful then Netflix's.
You have a rare talent for both contrasting better movies, better stories, improving a bad story and keeping it entertaining the entire time you do it.
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy."
- George Orwell, 1984
Great book.
"She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately-unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly. You would hardly recognize her if you saw her. All her rebelliousness, her deceit, her folly, her dirty-mindedness - everything has been burned out of her."
based
"misplaced maternal compassion" - Jordan Peterson 2024
Women making physical threats while looking like they could be destroyed by a 14-year-old boy is my favorite genre of cinema.
Metoo and lack of due process gave them superpowers.
Sshe was a terrible character.SHow itself was alright. THat MI5 director or whoever he was should have jujst told her to shut the fuck up and do as she is told.
If she said that to me I'd say "No you won't , ha!"
@@kpsk8031 yeah the superpower of calling in the government
ooooooooh scary
Agreed.
Even if zero people ever watch or care , they need to never, ever change this model....
"I'm afraid that's not how it works."
"It does if I give it to them."
No, seriously, that's not how it works. That's not how anything works.
"Logistics is a lie from big corporations to suppress the third world!!!"
-Her Probably
Normal corporations will ruthlessly pursue industrial espionage cases, but corporations that deal with military technology will just eliminate leaks with prejudice. Like the Boeing whistle blowers. Regardless of whether giving the third world digital files on how to build nanotechnology would help them in some way, or lead to their destruction, or just be met with indifference.
@@AliceBowieThis made me so angry when watching it. She would not leave the building after pulling that.
That, and if she even mentioned the possibility of leaking sensitive information like that, she'd no doubt be promptly arrested for violated the NDA she certainly signed, plus violations to national security.
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
'Not so much 'stepping over' people as 'mounting atop' them.'😂
The Kamala Harris school of professional advancement lol
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
I quit during the first episode: Two female scientists visit a bar, a nice guy approaches them politely and they respond with blatant contempt. I'm so done with this demonic portrayal of basic human interactions.
I also quit in the first episode, due to it being incredibly boring
"Basic human interactions"? Is that newspeak for "men"?
@@RobNeeth no, the scene is in the video at 11:10. These diabolical men hating writers turn a perfectly normal interaction between a man and two women into something very ugly.
There's a lot of bullshit like this in this show, but hey at least the best character in the show is an old white guy. :D
The scene would have been fine if he'd responded by expressing interest in their work. Of course, they didn't do that.
I honestly don't care about most of these modern bastardisations but your videos are just so informative and entertaining. Definitely one of the best critic TH-camrs out there.
The source material was made by a chicom so it's trash anyway.
I also enjoyed the source material differences and explanations that the Despot provided.
I found the Despot after I watched the first 3 episodes of Rings of Power when it was released. I was thinking, "this series sux. Is it just me thinking this way?" That day I found the Despot, Nerdrotic, and the Critical Drinker. I prefer watching hours of reviews than watching the product itself. It is much more entertaining. I have a fear of missing a gem, but these guys' opinions have saved me from watching crap. I will watch movies they recommend... Sisu... that recommendation was from RLM... who I discovered years ago thinking "the star Wars prequels weren't very good. Am I the only one who thinks this way?"... and then I found Mr Plinketts review of EP1.
+100
#SMALLVILLE was the best Superman series (in my opinion) .....Lois & Clark was kinda OK but nothing special, maybe bc it was targeted on actual children (6-12yrs) and not aimed at teens or young adults!
@@davidfrancisco3502 Whaz a "chicom"??🤔
That makes sense, giving terrorists the instructions for military-grade nanotechnology, definitely won’t have any consequences!
Even is it does, she meant well, and that's what really matters.
@@OOL-UV2 Or it would be like Gain of Function research, weird labs, glassware drops, scientists eager to keep the money flowing, MSM pretends it doesn't exist etc.
@@DespotofAntrimI find it terrifying what exactly they told us about that boat scene. Think about it, they wrote it from their perspective and they don't have any qualms in attacking without provocation, not planning anything ( putting unmasked pillars right from the water in a part of the canal where everyone would look at the shore to be sure they don't hit something, not planing planing how to protect from cutting the "thingy" they have been looking for) and destroying everything ( families and children) if they show the slightest opposition.
Komba ya foever 😂😂😂😂
@@DespotofAntrim That's what I told my ex after I had a go at amateur open-heart surgery on her dad.
The infinite irony of Hollywood telling the impoverished working class how they should solve the world's problems while they sit on thier piles of gold
Don't forget the totally not diverse owners who somehow never get diversified and men baded.
What is it they say, "eat the rich" ??
Well, I'm hungry.
@@the_inquisitive_inquisitor ah yes, that worked out well in the past, every single time it's been done. just like communism, which im sure you abhor because of historical reasons. gotta love demagogues.
15:45 That’s hilarious, the bridge collapsed right as they cut the ribbon, what timing.
It was a load-bearing ribbon 😂
It is weirdly impressive how that ribbon held the bridge together.
Baltimore Key Bridge rebuild a few years from now. BET.
That ribbon really tied the bridge together.
The hand of fate has no spare time for the rest of the world because it must make comedic, well timed interventions in african bungholes.
Auggie is the "perfect" netflix version of a woman : bossy, obnoxious, she is also emotionally weak so you better walk on eggshells around her. I wouldnt mind that character if they had normal man who can put her in her place.
When I first saw Jesse Eisenberg's character in a trailer I thought he's meant to be Joker.
I highly recommend reading the first book. It will join u instantly. The girl in the beginning is what hooked me on the book. But she didnt dir instantly. The way it was described was amazing. Ahe was sitting there being lit up and its said the bullets felt like rain drops that had more force behind them to jerk her body around. The opening of the first book sums up communism so well and its SHOCKING how much like the left it really was.
He is not serious enough for joker.
@@Ferdinand208 it was just the laughing maniacally and saying crazy things that gave me the impression
That would have made more sense then casting him as Lex Luthor
@@jamiespinks3657 Tbf I liked it. People usually just act like comic book writing is great when in reality its atrocious. I welcome when they change things.
The only mistake the dude in the bar made was not to reply "That sounds fascinating! I'm not knowledgable in the topic. but please feel free to tell me more about that." Because any true scientist *loves* to talk about their work/research. Trust me on that. ;)
Any TRUE SCIENTIST, not diversity hire, diversity hires are terribly afraid about taking about their supposed research.
Walking away was the correct move
@@ExpertContrarian In the context the show provided, yeah. The show is just unrealistic for that. That's what I'm saying. No one would try to deter someone from a conversation by opening with a topic they are deeply passionate about.
@@mrnik.0 I did not pick up what you were putting down
I thought the point was the guy was just some regular dude and they were talking down to him, because it IS becoming normal for women to bristle at being approached by a man unless it's a man they had decided in advance they wanted to approach them.
Jesse Eisenberg playing his Joker while portrayin Lex Luthor is peak Snyder. Would've thrown him off set for trying that.
The sad thing with Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is that it might've worked if Jesse channelled his role as Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network.
I can't stand that kind of performance as it is.. the overly neurotic, unthreatening nerd, pretending to be confident and outspoken by refusing to shut up. And that's all eisenberg can do.
@@georgeray1906 Not even,
Mark Zuckerburg is hardly the apex of humanity.
@@georgeray1906 Luthor is supposed to be cunning, dangerous yet controlled, and extremelly manipulative, being socially inept wouldnt fly whit Luthor.
To portray Luthor is like portraying Batman or Superman, you have to find the RIGHT actor.
Jesse Eisenberg , aka the J3wk3r. xD
Speaking as an experienced programmer -- when someone asks me what I do, I tell them, "I'm a programmer". I don't prattle on like an insecure child who mistakes @$$hole for confidence.
If I could dumb down my response even further, I would. What I do for a living never comes up with my family or friends unless they speak about something in that domain. This means 99.99% of the time, I don't mention any detail about my job.
Who TF does that?
"how dare you hit on me, don't you know I'm smart!?"
Was thinking exactly the same thing. I say just I'm a programmer, I don't start flexing on my projects and accomplishments when I've just met someone socially. How utterly obnoxious, have none of the writers ever interacted socially with female scientists, or any educated people for that matter? And what, should should only less educated women ever get approached by men?
The dialogue in this show had me rolling my eyes so much.
The answer I usually gave was "I work with computers" or "I work in I.T." (because in most white collar companies, everyone works with computers). People with no interest in technology don't ask any more questions. If they are actually interested, I'll go into details.
The scriptwriters that have exactly ZERO life experience and they write in what they have said when they have been 12 years old. Honestly now, that seemed cool in my mind when I was 12 but it sounded cringe after that age.
Oh my sweet, sugar-free, Colombian, Vanilla fudge, overpriced, almond milk, gender-neutral, net zero frappe. Wow, just wow. Tell me you're not a casting director without telling me you're not a casting director. Eisenberg's high-pitched, soy-boy, mentally challenged depiction of Luther is a perfect representation of modern youth and villainy. His laugh-based vigour and theoretical intelligence combined with the humour of a nervous toddler make him a phenomenal choice to combat an unstoppable alien symbol of moral duty. Literally, the only better choice would have been Chris Stuckmann.
well said jimmy
Nice, I read this whole thing in Karen iphone? ‘s voice
@@theabhorrentchef7226Though it was non playable sheep😅
@@theabhorrentchef7226clearly Non playable Sheep. That's his signature introduction. Karen iPhone is the female slug thing that reads scripts.
But non-playable sheep is excluded from one video for being obnoxious user id Twitter/tiktok without single independent thought
"after fixing Mexico's water faucet"
Despot, you kill me bro
If she looks constipated, then thats them trying to look "badass" 🤣
Great stuff as always Despot. Casting Eisenberg as Luthor is like casting Danny Devito as Jack Reacher, you dont even need to watch or listen, you can look at a photo and go "what the fffuu.."
spot on boot
Looked like a trash impression of Heath Ledger's Joker
@@oxydoxxo Not even that, he looked like a kid whit Aspergers.
Zack Snyder doesn't understand how to properly portray DC Comics characters on screen.
I’d like to see Danny Devito as Jack Reacher.
I stopped watching "3 Body Problem" 13 minutes in when we are introduced to Eiza's character at the bar... I said to myself, "Nope, I'm done."
I am still trying to figure out why the books are considered good personally.
The basic plot starts okay but then goes deus ex stupid with the nano technology.
Dude Napoleon Blownapart has such a smooth ass voice, I love when all my fave people know each other lol
Napoleon Blownapart XD
My name is Napoleona Bonaparte since the new stupid lgbtq laws. It was as close as I could get to Napoleon as a man kek
@@Noqtis hahaha love it!
Blownapart is great 😂
@@crakhaed I can't take credit for that name, he's actually a TH-camr that talks about old and new MMA stuff, and he has a voice like liquid gold, mmmm mmm!!!
@@StaceAyyy dope appreciate the info 😄👌
Fuck IMDb- The Despot is the true unbiased movie reviews
No, that would be Schaffrillas Productions
I felt so annoyed by the human characters that I was basically rooting for the aliens.
Yeah, I honestly thought the aliens were really nice in comparison, being equally disgusted with the humans and I was
I'm really not surprised this show's writing is considered smart, since we share oxygen with people who think George Floyd was murdered, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black men and Nelson Mandela was a peaceful revolutionary that didn't kill a shit ton of black people.
George Floyd is at best a case of police incompetence and questionable use of restraint techniques.
Agree on Kyle Rittenhouse and I haven’t looked into Nelson Mandela.
A much better sci fi show that actually portrays adults as intelligent, determined, focused, and well intentioned but morally gray, while not losing focus on the sci fi aspects is the Expanse. I have not read the books, but judging the show on its own merits, it is quite compelling. It’s a great example of how sci fi shows should be, not the lazy, seen-it-before shit that is modern Star Trek and Star Wars, or the pretentious, box checking, ‘adults written by adults with the minds of children’ that is shows like this and Rebel Moon.
Highly recommend the Expanse
My favorite sci-fi show! I love the actual science parts plus the political maneuvering that would absolutely be all over human expansion into space. Add to that brilliant casting and talented actors makes it compelling, even on rewatching.
True that. Too bad we have to wait to see if they'll adapt the later books. But what we've got on the show is a pretty complete arc at least.
It was good for 2-3 seasons, but then they felt the need to lower the stakes tremendously and leave the most interesting and compelling plot threads forever hanging in the air. Instead, it veers off into being about a normal human terrorist who takes a ridiculously long time to be defeated.
Immediately after i read, "a show that portrays adults as intelligent..." I knew you were talking about the expanse. It's so sad that in a decade, no other sci-fi show even comes close.
Please if I'm wrong I'll love a recommendation.
Also you have the chinese adaption which is pretty good although slow.
A single death is too good for Auggie. We are going to need an infinite death loop for her. Diavolo will finally have a friend.
How many people caught the "We welcome refugees" 1/10th second flash towards the end?
Timestamp or are you talking about the show?
Well spotted.
@@DespotofAntrim Mr. Despot was this in the show or your video?
@@tobechukwuaneke9467 around 1:05:12
@@ndi4926 Thanks.
The fact you included Napoleon's clip just elevated you from despot to God Emperor. Love both you're channels and you should now systematically take control of all major studios
The despot taking over Hollywood would unironically save Hollywood.
What's his other channel?
@@crakhaed it's not Despots channel. It's Napoleon Blownapart, no joke one of the most underrated content creators. He does MMA videos, history's other shit long form. Just another dude who's passion and style are undeniable. Def recommend a sub
@@gariongama awesome thanks for the correction and rec! 😁
*your
'He *embraces the idea of Canadian health care* as a means of ending the emotional and sexual distress....'
I nearly spit out my bratwurst.
My favourite Irishman strikes again
Thought he was scottish but im american and stupid
@@pokemasterhamertime77He is the Despot of Antrim, which is an Irish county in the province of Ulster.
Ulsterman
@@smythharris2635 he is from Northern Ireland, which is a region of the UK.
Snyder's Lex Luthor was a self insert. The quirks and hair were exaggerated. However, Snyder really believes he's a genius. It makes sense he completely changed the characterization. I have no doubt, had the Snyderverse gone on, he would have ended up saving the day somehow.
Imagine if Lex Luthor didn’t even get out of his chair when confronted by Superman, lights up a cigar, and nonchalantly explains the situation involving Doomsday, all the while exuding a dark calm and subtly menacing energy. He should always be in control of his demeanor, or his surroundings, and should never give way to jittery and anxious seeming emotions or cadences.
I'm reminded of the pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Miami in 2018, which was immediately followed by the engineering design company scrubbing all of their "All-Female Engineering team!" promotional material from their website.
Apparently the claims weren't even true to begin with.
Interesting. So they were just run of the mill immoral and not that and stupid.
Oof.jpg
Haven't heard of the books or the show, just here to listen to The Despot for an hour and change.
Learned something I didn't know, so I'll count it as time well spent.
Got me to order the books anyway. I think I have heard of them before.
0:18-0:29
The warehouse fight. It's like it's straight out of the Arkham Games and Wonder Woman's introduction.
I liked that movie, even if I agree that it has a lot of flaws. But as someone who is not really into the deep lore of both characters, I liked the bizarre angle Snyder came from when adapting them for his movies. Was it a good adaptation? It seems like it is not. Is it a movie I can enjoy? Yes, even with its many missteps. But I also understand Superman and Batman fans disliking it.
That’s the best part of the movie.
And to think fight choreography has only gotten worse. I just watched The Acolyte...
@@DespotofAntrim it has to do with nepotism and an incestuous industry that elects not by following talent but ideology alone. And even the few ones who have potential soon sink into that swampland.
Thomas Sowell is a treasure. Vision of the Anointed is an essential read. In a saner society it would be mandatory for all college students. The Quest for Cosmic Justice is another great take.
I dont know much about chinese sci fi novels but my cat was a street cat 5 years ago but now it is comfortable enough to come to me by itself while im in bed so i can pet it 😊.
Gaining the respect and admiration of a feline is tough work, good job m8
When a Despot video drops, it is not a crime, but a reason to celebrate.
Thanks for showing Thomas Sowell some love. Should be required reading.
I felt the same, and feel the same on your latter point. :)
YES! Despot using Napoleon Blownapart clips definitely represents the Venn diagram of my interests.
Oggie is a crime against humanity and the "fascist" rich guy gets things done, take iniative, responsibility, and puts his neck and resources on the line for the greater good of humanity
Our channel is based in Canada. It's truly shaking to hear a Scot make a joke reference to our "healthcare" system when talking about the self-deletion in 3-Body Problem. Canada is almost completely the world envisioned in 1984.
I think he's Irish, but yes, Canada is a world leader in regression.
@@billjacobs521 Oops! It was 50/50 call, Irish or Scot lol. We're over here working to try to get enough people out of their stupor and save Canada. There are great signs, especially in the province of Alberta. Elections next year, so we'll see what happens.
13:42 _"a country kilometre³"_
Better yet, a country quettametre. Thanks to the Metric system's November 2022 update, we can now express distances using a unit greater than the width of the observable universe... for some reason.
@Gyrfalcon312 Wait, why was I using metres when parsecs exist? 😂 A quettaparsec in metres is 30856776 followed by 39 zeroes.
That's so ridiculously huge, it renders the unit effectively useless, because one quettaparsec is 7012,9036,3636,3636,3636.363636 (etc; "36" is a repetend) observable universes wide.
Hey Despot, I found you an upgraded superlative. 😃 A country quettaparsec is... probably the size of God, or Zack Synder's misplaced confidence.
JUST CAST JEFF BEZOS FOR LEX LUTHOR FFS!!!!
Naw, only one CEO has the ability to communicate the charisma and dark energy of Lex Luthor, and that is Tim Cook. He proved his acting chops in Apple’s propaganda piece that the Despot has already covered. ;D
I don't entirely agree. The recasting of characters by itself isn't a problem. The problem is either incompentence or whatever twisted logic was responsible for the choice of actors. There are plenty of older actors, male and female that can project the gravitas of a leading nano-scientist. But noone competent would have "young model with no experience" as their main choice, just like noone cast a toned bodybuilder as Oppenheimer. The characters predictably devolve into sitcom templates, just like several other low quality shows on netflix. Some Korean shows suffer from the same problem, trying to cast former boyband members into "serious" roles they are no experience or competence for.
I think the big problem is that people don't carry themselves the same way, even amongst men. Anthony Hopkins, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both played characters with gravitas but Hopkins is no Terminator and Arnold would be an awful Lecter. Women can deliver commanding performances but not just by acting like men- that's probably why generally older actresses do it better they've got the life and work experience to know what actual confidence and power looks like.
I love your content my dude.
Seeing Sowell referenced in any cultural commentary gives me genuine hope for the future. That man needs to be on the forefront of basically any political and social conversation.
sowell is a brilliant man
Best part is that shitlibs can't play the racist card on him since it goes against their dogmas.
He's also a brilliant writer. He writes in a clear, direct, unpretentious style that is often funny and relatable.
And he’s still at it at 93. God bless him.
I hate gender swaps as much as the next guy, but being a fanatic lab rat type isn't an exclusively male trait.
I work with lots of fellow male and female lab rats and it mostly comes down to their life style and priorities, but I'd disagree on this one point- because I do know a lot of women who are obsessive about their studies in lab. All of them could have acted this role out better too
I was thinking the same thing! I know quite a few female mad scientist types, but recent media doesn't seem to do them justice.
It's a small minority though.
If you paid attention till the end of this very sentence, you would hear that ir was about the fact that dedicated scientists never looks like Instagram model who confuses sleeping around irresponsibly for career choices
Do they also look like they spend hours every day on their hair, makeup, lip fillers, and skincare routine?
@@a.b3203 not really, in fact the medical research lab I most recently worked at was a 80% female work force, including the top 3 lab directors being composed of 2 women and my male boss. Yes the female workers with children obviously wouldn't do crazy 16 hour shifts I'd be pulling to get my thesis done, but they'd still pull an hour or 2 of over time to get their work done.
I figure this is anecdotal of course, but even in uni- my class was comprised of a 9:1 female to male proportion (medical sciences and biotechnology) and indeed a lot of our professors were women scientists too.
I'm not a feminist I actually fought an on campus feminist speaker when she made the claim "women are oppressed in STEM" by stating the above, because we aren't oppressed but to say that no woman or that a small minority aren't as adept of being over focussed and consumed by their work is a stretch imo.
As a lefty I’m Always looking forward to your videos. Not all of us are crazy I promise.
Well you're all crazy but not all ridiculous fanatics. It's not leftist that's the issue, it's the cultural Marxism. And "leftist" can mean anything from moderate left to radical, just like "right wing" goes from Conservative to Fascist, and the left thinks they are all the same thing. Although as usual the extremes are closer to each other than he moderates are.
@@justforever96 Fascism is and always was a left-wing position. Its nationalism is (debatably) the only right-wing position inherant to it
@@lordfarquaad8601 So is racism or ethnic hatred inherently right wing then? Historically nationalism has included racism and ethnic hatred; especially, in Central Europe and the Balkans.
I don't understand how this was even made. The main chick character sounds like she is literally destroying humanity on purpose and everyone is supposed to just be cool with it?
Love the shoutout to my boy Napoleon Blownapart!
Still livid about my custodes...
ONE casting switch I can think of that went "white" was Rico from Starship Troopers, in the book he's Filipino.
Casper Van Dien killed it for what the film was aiming for, highly different than the Rico we get in the novel but so was the overall plot.
I think he meant in modern movies. It used to happen all the time. John Wayne as Genghis Khan is the best example, I think, for sheer hilarity.
That's hilarious! I'm trying to imagine a little fella playing Rico when Casper is such a giga Chad.
"Mexico's water faucet". That is killing me.
The world needs a Despot review of Young Woman and the Sea.
The World will get one (at some point...)
@@DespotofAntrim ZA WARUDO!
Mexico is a fairly developed country with a lot of industry , highways , urban centers etc.
Ongoing civil war non withstanding.
It always rubs me the wrong way when it's portayed as if it were Haiti.
It's sort of funny; the very people you'd generally think would want to depict second and third world countries accurately are the very ones who instead make them as pathetic as possible so they can either lionize them or guilt-trip the first world. Every depiction of Africa we get is 100% huts in the wilderness, too.
Developed vs not.
Parts of Democrat run cities look like bombed out war zones.
You are wrong. You can very much blame an actor for taking a role they had no business taking or even auditioning for.
I could be wrong, but unless you're a huge name, you audition based off of vague prompts and read a given script, most of the time. She may not have even known the specific role she was auditioning for, or she may have auditioned for a different role but they offered her this one. And even when given the official offer, she may not have really known the role, like "brb, I'm going to read a whole book before I reply." If the director/casting director say you're good for the part they have in mind, I don't generally blame anyone for taking it, and expecting them to quit, throwing away money and possibly tanking their career, just because they might later realize they are a bad fit is sort of unreasonable. The times I do blame an actor is when they had to have known, because it's their movie or they came back for a terrible sequel, something like that.
@@billjacobs521 You're going to play a scientist.....nope. Shoulda been out.
"Mexico's water faucet" 😂😂
I can't get enough of your parody titles 😂
Yes, you are definitely my favorite youtuber now. You are also very underrated as well. I will fix that! After I become a nurse and get my own money, I become a channel member. I have just finished my access course, so I still have 4 more years to go. Plz continue posting great videos like this until I become financially dependent. 🙏
Dude is famous in the resistance since the new star wars movies. Watch his star wars 7-9 reviews. Epic stuff
the mulligan clip gets me every time 😂
Having read the Three Body series, I don't understand how you could adapt the story with Western characters.
The entire outlook and philosophy of the series is deeply rooted in Chinese anti-Communism.
You cannot separate the first book from the Cultural Revolution.
Despot, I didn't know our youtube algorithms are in sync, I too have been binging Napoleon Blownapart videos.
The hatred of tri solarins in your critique of Deaths End. Fantastic. Humanity numbah won
Thank you! As a fan of the novels I was shocked that people found this adaptation as anything other than an insult to the books. Watch the Chinese version, it's actually quite good.
I disagree on your opinion on the Chinese version. For example, they didn't show Ye Wenjes story that led to her contacting the aliens.
W krajach gdzie niema wolności słowa autorzy muszą ukrywać to co chcą powiedziedz przez niedopowiedzenia , metafory, aluzje. Dla widzów z tych krajów są one cytelne jednocześnie natyle ukryte ze cenzura pozwala je opublikować.@@henryneubert7798
I thought the Tencent version was terrible TV it looked like a perfume commercial
Gene Hackman was the best Lex Luther
I always preferred the animated versions of Lex Luthor, both from the Super Friends and the Superman Animated Series (1996).
I love your videos, Lord Despot. They're always interesting and insightful. But this one truly shines as a magnificent display of your talents for both writing and analysis. Keep up the good work. We eagerly await your conquest of Hollywood, followed by the world.
11:24 who invented this trope of "guy asks a question, woman answers with smug word salad to make him look stupid." I remember seeing it as far back as I, Robot but at least then the actress didn't come off as spiteful, which seems to be the more common outcome. I think it's the usual problem of dumb people trying to write smart people with an added dose of "go girl."
It's also not even a confusing word salad lol. If the dude really wanted to talk to them, he'd have asked more questions. "You make self-replicating materials? Interesting, now how does that work? Is there a default molecular structure that the material wants to return to, or is it maintained by outside forces like nanomachines?" But nope, as usual dum dum male #6 just pulls the surprised Pikachu face and disappears
@@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese You act like no men are dumb, or that even if he was smart enough to understand, he may have been a few beers in or just not interested in women clearly being cows.
It worked in I, Robot because she absolutely wasn't talking down to the protagonist- she's so used to talking to fellow scientists that she forgets not everyone is as well versed in robotics as she is. If anything, the joke is just as easily on her for forgetting that the protagonist has no reason to fully understand her technobabble. It also helps there's a scene where the shoe's on the other foot when she can't figure out how to operate a tape deck. Far more balanced than later incarnations of this trope.
Fatherless women
Despot, your channel has very quickly become one of my favorites. Great video, love your breakdowns.
17:10 the real wonder is, that she walked away from there, without getting ***ed 50 times over - as it would be in reality. Lucky her!🌺
Your videos always give me a chuckle. A few months ago I was visiting Melbourne and walked all over listening to your videos, and last weekend I walked all over Sydney doing the same. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Furiosa, but at the same time depressed to hear what has become of one of my country's best cultural exports.
Hey man thanks a lot for the tip! Furiosa is good, not great, it's too long and you really feel the run time. On a positive note Furiosa's failure is another blow to the insufferable girl boss trope, even though Furiosa is not herself a girl boss.
I haven't read the books myself, but even just from reading summaries I could tell the third one seemed profoundly nihilistic and pretty dumb in a lot of places, like the idiot woman being given the killswitch and then doesn't she throw it away almost immediately? And then she isn't killed for betraying humanity in such a way even after all the chaos happens, and then she's like one of the only people that survive the extinction event because she gets picked as the person to leave on the one working light speed spaceship so she's only of the only remaining humans in the universe, then after everything in the universe is blown to hell and some wacked out universal reset event is happening she decides that blowing up the final gift someone gave her and 2 others of a pocket dimension where they were safe is the right idea-deciding to end this separate pocket space where they were safe and just 'eh...time to end it all'
The whole series revolves around answering the Drake Equation and Fermi Paradox.
It’s meant to be realistic about life in the galaxy, not necessarily nihilistic. She doesn’t live in the end. No one does. The entire galaxy is collapsing into 2 dimensions. Advanced species use dimensional super weapons that obliterate higher dimensions, forcing all the galaxy lower and lower.
The galaxy started in like the 10th dimension. Our 3d world is a result of multiple mass galactic extinction events.
If everyone around her wasn't acting like she farted pixie dust I would not have minded her but the fact she was so beloved made the book impossible to finish. The first two, with the exception of the romantic plot tumor of the second, were entertaing though.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 Sounds really stupid sci-fi. Then again I wondered all through the TV show why the sophon couldn't just murder everyone as it could interact with the world and I did get an explanation here even if it sounds like the books goes even more magic sci-fi.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 Except the setting isn't realistic as it presupposes intelligent alien life will be universally actively hostile due to limited resources within the universe, thus relegating every intelligent lifeform to the same cosmic ecological niche: apex predator. This is, quite simply, stupid as it forces the animalistic desires of life to the forefront in the only psyches equipped to ignore these instincts. Humanity is the dominant lifeform on Earth not solely due to our capacity for barbarity, but our ability to cooperate and form communities. We trade with other cultures, we cultivate plants, and we domesticated animals to mutual benefit. In a universe where life arose in different environs, different cosmic survival strategies would exist and many of them would involve mutualism or commensalism instead of the trilogy's view that parasitism is the only viable strategy. The 3-Body Problem ignores this entirely.
@@CastFromHitPoints you’re acting like Star Trek is a perfectly accurate depiction of alien life. That Vulkans are the common alien instead of xenomorphs.
The Dark Forest isn’t unrealistic, your idealistic view of compassionate and tolerant aliens is completely unrealistic to me. It’s just wishful thinking, that’s it.
This why you don't give Dumb and Dumber to work on anything
Well the show got overwhelming good critic reviews and was renewed so it seems like a success
Hell yes, i just came to check last night to see if there was anything new. There wasn't so i rewatched some older videos. And now here you are just as i finish with Sauron Tate and Stand-in Legolas again. 😀
I absolutely love the background clips Despot uses in every review!
One question I had while watching the show, and may be explained in the books. But when the trisolarans are being read children stories from earth. I thought it was the trisolarans trying to understand humanity better, but apparently they couldn’t even comprehend what a story was.
So did the trisolarans really believe everything that was being told to them this whole time? Did they think that all fantasy stories were concrete histories from earth? Why would they never question the stories until Red Riding Hood? How did these readings even begin?
It all seems really silly, but again if there is another explanation I’d want to hear it. Cause it makes the trisolarans look pretty stupid.
Basically yes, and no its not inherently stupid, if your species doesnt have the ability to "lie". They didnt heard about other fantasy stories. So it makes kinda sense.
@@GreenSabre187My question was:
1.) How did this storytelling start? Either the trisolarans would ask for children’s stories specifically, or Mike Evans/Ye Wenjie would propose the idea without explanation what they are.
2.) How and why wouldn’t the trisolarans not question any of the stories up until Red Riding Hood?
You’re telling me that they would never question the realism or logical consistency of Jack and the Bean-stock, Pinocchio, Three Little Pigs, Wizard of Oz, Gingerbread Man, or any number of children’s stories in popular media?
It makes me believe that the trisolarans were seriously detailing earth’s resources in magical plants, talking animals, and animating inanimate objects. Never asking any questions until that point.
@@zachpulido5972 yeaaah the book is just.. not good..
@@GreenSabre187 It's pretty stupid. Deception is one of the key survival tactics of life. We're really saying this Type II - III civilization capable of interstellar travel has never even _considered_ the possibility of things not being what they seem? This suggests that, in the history of their race, not one of them has ever been deceived or used deception, not even while they were still a developing species. Even if they saw deception as a cultural taboo, they would understand it as a possibility -- so this cannot be the case. It's basically saying that everything they have ever theorized turned out to be correct. That nothing they ever surveyed was anything other than what it seemed to be. In thousands, millions, possibly billions of years of progression and adaptation, they never once learned to broaden their expectations to include outcomes they previously thought unlikely, something scientists have to do regularly. All that time without one single instance of deviousness. That's just not possible. I know this isnt Earth, but it doesn't really matter. Survival of the fittest doesn't change.
The concept of not understanding an un-truth is hard for me to swallow, honestly. It's just too stupid for words, unless it's like a hivemind species where it's actually impossible to lie or hide information from one another. Like, they have scientists, so they've surely had theories, aka, people suggested things that turned out to not be true, so they must therefore understand the concept of an un-true statement. It's especially odd for a brutal, totalitarian race that has dissenters, instead of like some super-pacifistic advanced race you might see in Star Trek where they've evolved a billion years past the need to lie.
You've completely, completely, missed the point of Cheng Xin, and her being elected as Swordholder. Every decision she made was the more moral, and made with the knowledge she had at the time. Only with hindsight can we say any of her decisions were poor.
And saying any art received from Trisolaris would be considered as psy-op is a hell of a reach. The entire point of humanity trusting Trisolaris was to show our arrogance. At that point humanity had the upper hand, it had been decades past and we'd been conditioned to believe that they were simply trying to survive.
Also, you know, at that point humans believed that TRISOLARANS ARE INCAPABLE OF LYING. Did you miss that entire plot point? They didn't know deception was in their toolbox, and had no reason to suspect it, since they'd also diverted course and weren't even coming anymore anyway. They figured out light speed travel after.
Also, yes, humanity were arrogant and naive and Cheng Xin made the wrong decisions, but from what perspective? The larger point of the novels is that the dark forest state is not sustainable, that making destructive, ruthless and nihilistic decisions are not good for life as a whole. As illustrated by the dual vector strike, which goes on inifinitely and destroys the sender itself.
Cheng Xin could have pushed the button, but then she'd be dooming two civilizations. She made the moral choice.
Every decision Cheng Xin made was "wrong", but they were also "good". They could have selflishly stayed in the pocket universe, but instead chose to sacrifice theirs so the next could be reborn. The "wrong" decisions for themselves but the "good" decision. Do you understand?
Sorry dude, your criticims of the book are poor. You've completely missed what the author was going for, and are getting too hung up on what "should" have happened in the author's imagined universe rather than the larger points being made.
Logic nitpicks are the lowest form of criticism, honestly. You can do better.
While I like Dark Forest the most Death's End is a fantastic end to the trilogy, and wraps the theme of the series up beautifully. Cheng Xin is a great character, not because of her personality but became of what she represents. The last flicker of light in a dark and endless universe.
The series was a poor adaption as well. Didn't capture an oune of the dread of the book.
Your breakdown of something I would never read or watch is good enough to keep to the end.
Eisenberg is a good actor but he should never have been cast as Luthor, it immediately turned me off to seeing the movie at all.
Luthor as a character is completely amoral, jealous & power hungry yet is still presented as the nigh perfect male specimen married to extreme intellect & charisma…he’s what Bruce Wayne could have become without a strong moral compass & allies like Alfred to keep him humble/centered.
I never felt any of that with Eisenberg, it just looked like a kid putting on his dad’s suit jacket.
An ancient king, called "Erc" by name
He ruled the land, that was his fame
And County Antrim was his claim
'Twas then called "Dalriada".
- from "Dalriada" copyright by Truman Keesey
To be fair, Ben Affleck playing a deranged loser with no on-screen magnetism is right up his alley.
Only one, something about the dialogue just feels so off, it's like every character comes from the same home town and speaks the same
Finally a critical take. Thought I was only one
It's funny about Jesse Eisenberg... All he had to do was just be exactly like he was in The Social Network... That would have been the PERFECT note for Lex.
That was what they originally wanted, but Zuckerberg is a stock holder so...
It's next to impossible not to enjoy this channel
6:40 - great choice.
Yeah! Shout out to Napoleon-blownapart! Criminally under subscribed! Hail to the despot, mighty be his ternary
Ep 4-5-6-7 is sooooo boring the just keep talking with that handicapped guy and then he gets shot into space and dies directly! Why invest in this boring boring guy and then kill him of? I can't even. OMG the Fifth Element is soo good, I am going to watch it again tonight!
they are just bullshitting us, he survived, or better said "his brain survived"
I love your lesbian descriptions of the female characters! You should write the script for the next season!
Beautiful review, beautiful observations :) keep it coming bro
Despot of Atrium referencing Napoleon Blownapart made my day. Two of my favorite TH-camrs.
I literally fast forwarded all the interactions between the friends group. It was insufferable
I really liked the show. But my boy despot knows what he is talking about.
Yep, even if I liked the show, despots points are always spot on.
Worst aspects are Benioff and Weiss going off book.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 that's true. You're right!!!
i liked it too, then i read the books and i saw all the issues in the show then.
Look, I'm just gonna say this: if you have a machine the size of a proton that you can use to sabotage an entire planet and that planet's main species has no way to defend against or even detect it, you've already won. Moreover, if you can use quantum entanglement to place that machine 4 lightyears away instantly, you have broken through a layer of technological prowess with boundaries simply unimaginable to humankind. I find it hard to believe that within 400 years, you wouldn't be able to replicate this process with larger subjects, like robots or Trisolaran soldiers. At that point, Earth and our solar system would be a speck compared to their total available reach. They could settle and populate any planet they wanted easily. The Trisolarans would not consider humanity as anywhere near their equal. Why would they even speak to us? It would be like a human warning a squirrel that we're going to take down its tree. That would be silly. They would wipe us out in an afternoon without a warning or a second thought.
Not trying to ruin anyone's enjoyment of it, but this just irked the hell out of me. I couldn't finish the books because of it. And think that D&D got ahold of it after that.... they took something farfetched and and made it downright stupid.
In fairness to the third book, part of the reason the Cold War lasted so long was because of the election of several leaders who were very weak on foreign policy and overly trusting of the Soviet Union.
To be fair, when I studied science in college there were a lot of hot girls in class. Less of them in the actual job but still a fair few.
Thank you for this analysis. I saw very few people discuss the numerous issues you have highlighted here and it irked me to no end. I thoroughly enjoyed these books and the only other channel that discusses them is Quinn's Ideas but he wears rose-tinted glasses about it. I truly wish you would do an indepth analysis of the books. Masterful work.
Big up Napoleon Blownapart.
But they gave the Mexican supermodel a heinous hairstyle with ugly bangs. That's how you could tell she was a science genius.
When your progression in your career is based on your *cough* interpersonal skills not your brains you can very much hang out all day
Kamela Harris enters the chat
Yay! Another video by our glorious Despot of Antrim!
Haha you refused to watch the Tencent version because of 'state censorship'? That's pious and worthy of you. It's a family show, you'd know if you'd watched it, in the Chinese edition of the book the struggle session occurs in the middle of the book, in the Red Coast flashbacks. In the show there's a scene with Ye and her dad on his deathbed during the cultural revolution where they share a few words and he dies, as the result of being fatally struggle sessioned. It's not as explicit as the book/Netflix show but it's there and the characterisation of Ye is (consequently) much better in the Tencent show. She doesn't shag the Silent Spring guy and Mike Evans, and the scene with the Trisolaran traitor is put into the virtual reality game to be witnessed in the last episode, with the ETO's interpretation of what the aliens look like. It's excellent. You can't watch it now without paying for Tencent membership so whatever, you'll never know. Atomic girl is also great in the Tencent show. It's a family show, smart Chinese six year olds could watch it, the Netflix version isn't either family friendly nor smart, unless your family's weird.
You didn't pick up on the wrecking of Sophon. Where did the Trisolarans get her design from? In the books she doesn't appear until the third novel, the one which you despise, and she's initially a peace envoy, no sword, just tea ceremonies. If you don't like the third book then I guess it doesn't mean so much that they've wrecked her 'dramatic reversal' but for those of us that like the third book it stinks.
Liu's 'trilogy' (plus) is fairly meta. The first book is 'mystery science fiction' (carrying on from the prequel 'Ball Lightning'), spooky Forteana and hard science. The second book is 'military science fiction', all from a non-Western perspective, and the third is 'cosmic science fiction', which has elements of surrealism as well as farce, then the spin-off 'fan novel' The Redemption of Time is pretty much 'comic book science fiction', with added fantasy, open comedy and sexual tension with a 'meta' 'fourth wall breaking' conclusion which was nerdgasmic. It all happened in a previous universe. Reminiscent of the ending to 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', the movies, where *spoiler* the universe is reset and Shinji emerges from the train station into 'our world'.
The 10 to 1 dimensional/repeating universe isn't 'nihilistic' it's just standard Eastern mysticism, reincarnation, 'eternal return' etc. The aforementioned 'Evangelion' has a similar plot point with everyone being turned into 'an ecstatic oneness' ('tang'), losing their individual egos and senses of lonely individual suffering, a bit like the Changelings' home planet in DS9 too...
...so yes the third novel is somewhat farcical with the plot contrivances, to say the least, but I took it as ideological satire for the most part. Nobody killed Xin when they should've because they were 'evolved enlightened pacifists', although they had no trouble executing Wade. Hypocrites. This ideological nonsense crept into the series earlier with America and the UK being the only countries to veto the suspension of copyrights on intellectual property, then with the notion of 'escapism' being banned for no good reason. The books are filled with those wacky commie-centric asides, the veneration of the French Revolution and so on.
Another thing you've missed by refusing to see the Tencent version is an AI Leonardo da Vinci acting suspiciously camp while using Duchamp's Fountain on a plinth as a seat, in the VR game. That was pretty wild.
The Tencent version was great TV, practically a Chinese Twin Peaks in places (that short scene where the random scientist on protective lockdown gets a sophon in his eye and face-plants a glass coffee table, probably the most violent scene in the show, or atomic girl's equally-short fight scene on the train, not in the book. Memorable stuff). I hope Tencent can get their Dark Forest out before Netflix. Fun review. 👍
Chinese TV doesn't have age rating like Western TV, so brutal struggle session as portrayed in the book are not allowed on TV, but interestingly allowed in films, most recently in Forever Young (2018).
In EP27 we do learned about how Ye's father died, he was murdered by a red guard just like in the book. Also in EP6 through the narrative from Da Shi we do learned about Ye's younger sister was the one who reported their father to the Cultural Revolution Group. In EP11 when the officer shows Ye the documents we can actually see what's on it, and it's basically Ye's sister denouncing her father.
Netflix's depiction of Cultural Revolution only looks good during the struggle session, outside of it it was really cartoonish and laughable, meanwhile Tencent's Cultural Revolution, though the struggle session was never depicted, feels way more authentic and dreadful then Netflix's.
😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆
@@jeremybrimmer1990 😎
The Despot is the best TH-camr yet. Every single video is digital gold!
Napoleon Blownapart clips are a sign of refined taste
You have a rare talent for both contrasting better movies, better stories, improving a bad story and keeping it entertaining the entire time you do it.