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Rewatch This Space compiles every Watch This Space focusing on TV. From mini-essays on how to adapt from one medium to another to reviewing what a medicine seller gets up to.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: July 17th 2026
#television #tv #tvshow #tvshows #shows
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: July 17th 2026
#television #tv #tvshow #tvshows #shows
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TVTranscript
00:20Warning, the following video discusses spoilers throughout Season 2 of The Last of Us and elements
00:25of the game that has not been adapted for TV yet.
00:28Please watch this at your own discretion.
00:35So, The Last of Us Season 2 has come and gone, and the reactions to it have been interesting
00:40compared to the game it's adapted from.
00:42When The Last of Us 2 came out, it was a divisive game, to say the least, mostly owing to
00:47certain
00:48story elements.
00:49Here, the discussion for the TV show seems to be on how the TV show adapted the game,
00:53mostly changing some elements to make it work as a TV show.
00:56Lots of people have decried these changes, and I don't understand where they're coming
01:00from, but I am okay with how they changed things.
01:03Oh yes, there are some moments I wish were in the game, like the scene in the synagogue,
01:06and I do think Abby telling Joel her motivations take away from the mystery that was in the
01:10game, along with showing who the WLF and the scars are, early, but I can see why certain
01:15elements were changed.
01:16Video game adaptations, especially movies and TV shows, were, for a long time, seen as not
01:20good, often being in poor quality.
01:23Sometimes you can get a Mortal Kombat 1995, or something made by Uwe Boll.
01:27I feel like the reason why video games are hard to adapt is because of one thing that
01:31TV shows and movies don't have, interactivity.
01:34Video games are an interactive medium.
01:36You control a character, and you can make them do what you want to do.
01:40You can make choices that affect the story, you can fight enemies, you can choose who you
01:43can fall in love with, and you can explore the world.
01:46You can't do that in a film or an episode TV where you're just watching something.
01:50When reviewing the 2005 adaptation of Doom, Roger Ebert once said,
01:54This movie has been inspired by the famous video game.
01:57No, I haven't played it, and I never will, but I know how it feels not to play it, because
02:01I've seen the movie.
02:02Doom is like some kid came over and is using your computer and won't let you play.
02:07Interactivity is something that inherits video games, and without that factor, it takes
02:10away from the experience and makes it feel derivative in adaptation, or would make a Last
02:14of Us TV show different from something like The Walking Dead, if you take out all the scavenging
02:17and the gameplay sections if you're not controlling the characters on screen.
02:21Luckily, when it came to adapting the first video game into a TV show, they did some interesting
02:26creative decisions to circumvent the lack of interactivity.
02:29The Last of Us is a more story-driven game, which can easily fit into the mode of television.
02:33The game's chapters and levels have beginning, middles, and endings which you can make
02:37into TV episodes, and you can even adapt and change it.
02:40The Bill and the Frank episode is a complete 180 from the game, so in another level which
02:44you have to try and escape the infected into a more personal character piece, putting focus
02:48away from Joel and Ellie, and creates a breather after the action of the last episode.
02:53In an interview with TechRadar, Neil Druckmann talked about this process of adaptation of
02:57Craig Mason when it came to episode 3.
02:59That's what would have been an important thing in the past, when you're adapting video
03:02games and looking at superficial aspects and thinking, oh, players want to see that
03:06gameplay moment.
03:06That's not what they want.
03:07They want the core of the heart of this experience.
03:10The Last of Us Season 1 adds more scenes and more characters to flesh out the world.
03:14taking away the moments where you as a player would explore the world.
03:16In the show, we have scenes in the past, we have scenes outside of America, and we have
03:20new characters, so you can see them follow this mentality when it came to adapt in Part 2.
03:24We get more scenes with other characters, we see Jackson spinning off a horde while Abby
03:27works on a golf swing, and we have new characters and get more flashbacks into other characters
03:32like Isaac.
03:32But do they work?
03:33Kinda.
03:33Compared to Season 1, Season 2 is adapted in half of the game, so you can see moments that
03:37clearly are set up for when they deal with Abby's side of the story, especially the
03:41scenes with Ellie training in Episode 1.
03:43Don't think that will come into play later.
03:45Or what Joel said to Eugene when they did the porch scene earlier than expected.
03:48With how they structured the season, it does leave things hanging in some regards.
03:51One extra thing I did love was how it had to circumvent the lack of gameplay.
03:55Last of Us Part 2 is a sprawling game, then the first.
03:57Lots of exploration and traversal, and lots of killing.
04:00Lots and lots of killing in the name of revenge, ending with Ellie's killing of Noah.
04:06A pregnant woman being a dark combination of a quest for revenge.
04:10The show, being a TV show with a set timeline for an episode, there isn't a lot of time
04:14spent on the killing, so the show changes that aspect, and by mixing up certain elements,
04:18mainly having Ellie and Dinah go out to Seattle before Tommy, and in spite of their community's
04:23decision not to do so, and have Dinah get involved with the action after revealing she's
04:27pregnant, but until she's injured and taken out of action, Jesse and Tommy have to chase
04:31off of them because of this.
04:32Then when you get to Ellie's murder of Noah, the Dark of the Cell moment for Ellie, is
04:36the realisation that she dragged a lot of people into this, nearly got her girlfriend
04:39killed more than once, and they could have gotten killed as well.
04:42This change is effective and manages to contain the same manner of impact the game did.
04:46Still shocking, and managed to capture the core of the game's story, and you can tell
04:50that this is obviously going to have a bit more impactful when they do get round to adapting
04:54the Abbey parts in Season 3.
04:57But ultimately the second season does feel incomplete, and there are some moments I do wish we did
05:00get to see adapted.
05:02It will be interesting to see how they adapt the Abbey scenes to TV, what characters will
05:06get expanded upon, and how will it play out as a whole.
05:17Warning!
05:18This video contains spoilers for Season 2 of Peacemaker.
05:21If you haven't watched the show, please watch that and then watch this video, or just watch
05:25at your own discretion.
05:31And now, Season 2 of Peacemaker has come to an end, and watching it has made me think
05:36of something, especially after seeing Superman, is that Peacemaker and Superman are kind of
05:41the same character.
05:42It's an interesting dichotomy, as Superman and Peacemaker are two different types of
05:45heroes.
05:46Superman is, well, Superman.
05:47The archetypal superhero, which has had many variations based on him.
05:52Superman if he's a kid.
05:53Superman if he was a teenager.
05:55Superman if he was your dad.
05:56Superman but at Marvel.
05:58Superman if he was black.
05:59Superman but Batman's boyfriend.
06:01Superman but washed up.
06:03Superman but evil.
06:05Superman but evil but also at Marvel.
06:07Superman if he's a kid and also evil.
06:09Well, this version of Peacemaker's variation on various anti-heroes that have shown up in comics.
06:13This one takes cues from the 80s version, who changed from his more espionage roots to a
06:18more darker and edgier vigilante, who's haunted by his past as part of a trend in comics, trend
06:24towards more anti-heroes inspired by the likes of Punisher of Wolverine, and most importantly
06:28Watchmen, which in turn had the Comedian, a character inspired by the original child in
06:32comics, Peacemaker.
06:33Superman has been pastiche, and the other one has become a pastiche.
06:36But James Gunn gives both Superman and Peacemaker the same type of hurdles, despite their difference
06:40in status.
06:41In Peacemaker, Chris Smith is a man who's trying to reconcile his upbringing by an abusive
06:45white supremacist father, and tries to move on from it.
06:48In Superman, Clark Kent learns that his space parents were not the ideal figures he believed
06:53them to be.
06:54Parental figures have always been part of James Gunn's work, but it's interesting that the
06:58same arc of having to deal with imperfect, to say the least, parental figures has been
07:01given both to Superman and Peacemaker.
07:04Another interesting aspect is that both characters are defined by music, as you expect from a James
07:07Gunn production.
07:08In the episode where the 11th Street Kids and Judo Master rescue Chris from Earth X, Adebayo
07:13and Judo Master discuss Chris and his love of hair metal, with Adebayo comparing Chris
07:18to the music genre saying, I just had to open my mind a little and get past parts that were
07:22cheesy.
07:22But that's what Chris is like.
07:24You just got to open your mind up a little bit and get past the parts that are cheesy.
07:27To me, this scene felt similar to a scene in Gunn's Superman film where Clark and Lois
07:31discuss the message from his space parents, and the tangent about Clark's taste in
07:35punk bands and how Clark's more trust and attitude is the real punk rock.
07:38The two characters have a musical taste that are genres that aren't exactly highly praised.
07:42It's another interesting comparison between the two characters.
07:45Also, both characters' relationship to the wider superhero community is also comparable.
07:50Superman's relationship with the Justice Gang isn't exactly on the up and up, while
07:53they do work with each other and see themselves as a colleague.
07:56Clark, even diverging his secret identities to them, he doesn't like their methods.
08:00Peacemaker is not respected at all.
08:02His frustration, as shown through his endless conspiracies about the heroes he spouts in
08:06Season 1, back when he was set in the DCEU, is proof positive of that, and he's rejected
08:10by Maxwell Lord, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl at the beginning of Season 2, which also brings
08:14me to another comparison.
08:15Both of them find comfort in what they thought were the ideal versions of their parental figures.
08:19Gary, Superman's robot, keeps mentioning that the Kryptomi message soothes him, and Peacemaker
08:23initially finds Earth-X a perfect world for him, but both end up in a road called out
08:26under them, and in the end, they both find solace in their found families.
08:29Now, there's some key differences between the heroes as well.
08:31For instance, they have a different work-life balance.
08:33Superman, as always, keeps up the whole secret identity, which the only person who knows about
08:38his heroic side gear at the day planner is Lois Lane, but it was implied that maybe Perry
08:41Wright and Jimmy Olsen are also privy to it, compared to Peacemaker, who doesn't really
08:44have a normal job or life, and only does government work, but still maintains the social life of
08:49his co-workers, who know Peacemaker is Christopher Smith.
08:51Also, one kills and the other doesn't.
08:53That's another important detail.
08:54But it's all about the work-life balance for me.
08:56James Gunn manages to give one of the most well-known superheroes and one of the most
08:59obscure ones similar character beats to create an interesting juxtaposition between them,
09:03showing that while there are differences on some levels, they are still dealing with
09:06the same stuff.
09:06It'll be interesting to see how the rest of DC Universe will play along with this idea.
09:18Hello, I'm an internet reviewer slash commentator who is talking about Star Wars.
09:22I like Star Wars.
09:23If there is an entry I don't particularly like, I move on from it and do not make it my
09:27entire
09:27online persona for the rest of my life.
09:29Also, if there's an entry I do like, I also don't make it a new yarn so to judge all
09:33previous
09:33and future entries with.
09:35Anyway, we've got another Star Wars Vision Anthology.
09:42With Volume 3 we see the animated Star Wars Anthology return to its anime theme this year.
09:47Which I do admit, I do kinda wish we had more of the international animation studios like
09:52we got in Volume 2.
09:53But Volume 3 has a solid and interesting set of stories to tell.
09:56Starting with...
09:59The Jewel.
10:00Payback.
10:01From Kamikaze Doggar and Anima.
10:03This story is a sequel to one from Volume 1.
10:06One of the three in this collection.
10:07Set in a reimagined version of the Star Wars Universe, we see our Sith, Ronin, having to
10:11deal with a Jedi Crusader who we maimed previously.
10:14This short has a lot of fun playing around in the Kurosawa inspired sandbox, with a mishmash
10:20of aesthetics from different trilogies.
10:21It has a lot of fun characters and some interesting ideas with regards to the Jedi where they
10:27come off as religious fanatics, with the Crusader calling out our Ronin as a sinner.
10:31Put a pin in that because there's a theme here.
10:33The animation is great here as it was an original story with some great action scenes.
10:40The Song of the Four Wings from Project Studio Q.
10:43This is the first CGI animated story of the volume.
10:45This was a fun story about a princess in the Rebel Alliance, not that one, who helps rescue
10:50a cute alien baby and stop an Imperial mine operation.
10:53This was a fun short.
10:54The cel-shaded animation looks appealing and there's a fun over-the-top cartini feel to it.
10:59From the designs to the action beats to a Starles-esque magical girl transformation sequence,
11:04this was a fun one.
11:07The Ninth Jedi Child of Hope
11:10The second sequel, this one, follows up from Studio IG's Ninth Jedi short.
11:14Before this volume was released, it was announced that the Ninth Jedi short is getting its own
11:18spin-off series, and with that in mind, this short feels like a teaser for the series,
11:22but I don't mind that because it's pretty good.
11:24It's a bit of a refresher course reminding you of who the characters are and what their
11:27respective deals are.
11:28This one deals with Larkara, a Jedi in a train helping a droid in a derelict starship.
11:33It's a good story, gives out more details of the setting, and has a fun droid character
11:36called Tito, who is a cool CGI design that meshes well with the 2D elements.
11:42The Bounty Hunters
11:44This one, from Wit Studio, feels like a backdoor pilot to another show, which I totally would
11:49watch.
11:49This one details the adventures of Sven, a fugitive assassin turned bounty hunter, and
11:53her droid assistant IV-A4, doing a job for a rich guy who, surprise surprise, turns out
11:58to be not on the up-and-up.
11:59As I mentioned before, this one felt like a backdoor pilot, as especially as some elements
12:03like Sven's quest to find and kill the Jedi who saved her, and there's some characters
12:07mentioned who feel like they might possibly be important down the line.
12:10Not that I wouldn't mind.
12:11In fact, I would love to see more of the characters in this.
12:14I also liked the character of Sven, and her view on the Jedi.
12:16As while she did save her from slavery as a child, she ended up with a target on her
12:20back by the organisation, and now wants to kill her saviour.
12:23Which, to me, is an interesting aspect, as we don't see a lot of characters, especially
12:26Vels on the Good, potentially, have a not-particular-kind view of the Jedi.
12:31There's also some good action scenes, especially one with droid mech, which was something I
12:34didn't know I needed.
12:35Overall, the show itself was good, and I'd definitely sign up for more if they do continue the story.
12:42Ukel's Treasure.
12:43Oh, this was a sweet one.
12:44This story, from Cinema Citrus, is a nice reaver.
12:46It's about an orphan and his caretaker, who's the robot teddy bear.
12:49Sure, why not?
12:49Who live on Tatooine.
12:50But their idyllic life on the Dust Ball is put under threat when a gang of pirates
12:54come to steal something from them.
12:55It's a cute little adventure with a lot of heart and comedy.
12:57It feels a bit like Skeleton Crew.
12:59If you liked that show, you'd definitely like this one.
13:03Lost One.
13:04Another one from Cinema Citrus, and another sequel.
13:06This one's my personal favourite of Volume 1 shorts.
13:08The Village Bride.
13:09This details the manic Jedi, F, having to save a group of refugees from the Empire, but also
13:13having to do with her Thor master, who now works at the Empire.
13:16This is a great flop.
13:17We get a lot more about F. For instance, we learn she's got a robotic leg, and we get
13:20some interesting side characters.
13:22The animation, like its prequel, is also good.
13:24It also has a good colour palette with bright and stark colours being put to good use.
13:31The Smuggler.
13:31From Studio Trigger comes The Smuggler.
13:33This one is a fun little escapade dealing with a smuggler trying to help a fugitive prince
13:37escape the Empire's crackdown on his world.
13:39There's a lot of excitement to be had with a great chase scene, some interesting characters,
13:43and some good world building.
13:44It's also here where I noticed one of the big themes of this volume.
13:47Survival.
13:47Each story in this volume have a lot of characters who've survived some horrible experiences,
13:51like Rupas, a cute baby whose village was massacred, the numerous Jedi who survived Order 66,
13:55the Sith being hunted by the Grand Master's Crusade, and the prince in this story who lost
13:59his royal family.
13:59It's a theme that's always been the Star Wars when you get to see all the survivors in this
14:03story trying and move on in some way or another.
14:05Be it the Ronin trying to make amends, F trying to keep the traditions going, and the prince
14:10in this story trying to help free his world from the Empire along with another Order 66 survivor
14:13who pledges her alliance to him, reinforcing this theme.
14:19The Bird of Paradise.
14:21From Polygon Pictures.
14:22The second CGI short of the volume comes The Bird of Paradise.
14:25In this short it details a young Jedi Paderon called Nakimi having to deal with losing her
14:29sight after a battle with Sith.
14:31The animation in this one is great and gets creative in how it depicts the Paderons in a turmoil
14:35and accompanying Force visions, and its overall message of acceptance is appreciated.
14:40It's also here where two of the volume's themes crop up, the depiction of Jedi and disability.
14:46Throughout the volume we see the Jedi in an interesting light.
14:49For some, like in Payback and Bounty Hunters, they're not seen in a good light with the Grand
14:53Master and the Jewel as mentioned before, being portrayed as a crusading knight who vanquishes
14:57enemies regardless who gets in his way, and Sven in her short seeks vengeance against the
15:01Jedi who rescued her but left to defend for herself.
15:03In this short we've seen Nakimi having to come to terms with not just her disability,
15:07but also her arrogance that led her to this situation.
15:09It feels in line with The Last Jedi or the Acolye, instruments that tackled the less admirable
15:13aspects of the Jedi Order that we've seen in this film, but this short kind of does it
15:16in a more lighter approach.
15:23Another theme I noticed was disability. While Souls has always had characters who have a disability,
15:27it's probably the oldest film franchise with a main character who is an NPC if you think about it.
15:31Throughout the volume we see characters who lost limbs, and he lost her arm in the Payback,
15:35and the Grand Master has various injuries requiring a Darth Vader-like procedure to keep him alive.
15:40Lino and F have cybernetic prosthetics.
15:42It ties itself into this volume's general theme of survival and how to overcome it,
15:46which is Nakimi's arc in this short, how to accept what was lost.
15:52Black.
15:53Okay, so this one is both the best short of this volume, but also a bit hard to review.
15:57From David Productions and veteran animator Shinya Ohira, a man who's worked on a lot of anime productions.
16:03Like, name anyone you're thinking of, he's probably worked on them in some capacity.
16:07Anyway, this short details the experience of a staunch of a who's losing the battle.
16:10That's what I can gather from it as this one goes in an experimental direction,
16:14detailing a psychedelic vision, get it?
16:16Of a typical Star Wars space battle with great music by Fujiwara Sakura.
16:20His animation is fluid and sketchy, reminiscent of Ohira's previous works like the animated sequence in Kill Bill Volume 1.
16:25It just doesn't let up. Everything's changing constantly, with Star Wars iconography constantly being swapped out.
16:31But it doesn't feel too hollow, as there's some details to grab them onto.
16:34In short, it's Star Wars as you've never seen it before.
16:37Star Wars Vision's third volume still continues as one of the most creative and fun entries in the Star Wars
16:40saga,
16:41with a bunch of stories that run the gamut from funny to action-packed to just plain weird.
16:45It's a great part of the saga that I always like coming back to.
16:53We are currently in a boom period of video game adaptations.
16:57A result of a generational shift in the entertainment industry, where a bunch of people who grew up in the
17:02milieu of gaming culture
17:03are now in positions of producing power to make any TV and film productions based on video games as they
17:09wish.
17:09We've already had projects based on Halo, Mario, Sonic and Minecraft, and we have many more to come.
17:14One game on the adaptation block is Mass Effect, the popular science-fiction RPG from Bioware.
17:20Now, this made me raise an eyebrow because if you recall my last other studio,
17:24I argued that when transition from one medium to another, changes have to be made to make up for the
17:30lack of interactivity inherent to video games.
17:33Video games are an interactive medium. You control a character, and you can make them do what you want to
17:38do.
17:38You can make choices that affect the story, you can fight enemies, you can choose who you fall in love
17:43with, and you can explore the world.
17:44You can't do that in a film or an episode of TV where you're just watching something.
17:49One of the big things that Mass Effect has is that it was a choice-based game.
17:53You choose who you fall in love with, who you save, and even the appearance of gender of your character,
17:57famously.
17:58So, if you're adapting that to any medium, it would be hard to contain, let alone adapt, given the branching
18:03storylines and how it affects outcomes.
18:05This is why on N7 Day, we got some details on the upcoming Mass Effect TV show.
18:10In a blog stating,
18:11The show will explore a brand new story within the universe's timeline, and will be set after the original trilogy.
18:16It won't be a retread of Commander Shepard's story, because after all, that's your story, isn't it?
18:21Firstly, this was an obvious direction for any adaptation of Mass Effect to go.
18:24Look at how Fallout, another choice-based game, was adapted into TV, and it seems to be an avenue that
18:29other video game adaptations are going like the recent Death Stranding anime.
18:32Secondly, I think this is great. Mass Effect has a great world to play around in, and there's lots of
18:36directions this can go.
18:37But, I have something else on my mind as well. How will this brand new story work?
18:41Details are brief, and the show is still in development, so this video could be entirely pointless when more details
18:46emerge.
18:47But if this show is set after Mass Effect 3, how will it reconcile its three endings?
18:51Well, obviously, having an original story takes away the hurdle of the choice-based system.
18:55If it's going to be set after the trilogy, then you can't really do that without acknowledging one of the
19:00three endings,
19:01and, you know, those endings ended with some pretty big shake-ups for the universe at large.
19:06Now, there are ways to circumvent this.
19:08Mass Effect drama sets itself 100 years in the future, and also in another galaxy to avoid any clashes with
19:13the endings.
19:14Unrelated to Mass Effect, but the Milo Jovovich Resident Evil movies at first implied the plot of the games were
19:19happening at the same time.
19:20But then again, these are early days, and we don't know how it could go.
19:23But it shows the ways people adapt video games with different play styles to another medium.
19:27You can do a one-to-one adaptation like The Last of Us, or say it in the same universe
19:30like Fallout.
19:31It shows there's no one way to adapt games.
19:39There's been a lot of Batman adaptations over the years.
19:42Also, water is wet.
19:43Yeah, beginning this with the obvious, but when discussing actors who've played Batman,
19:46it's mostly focused on films, with the occasional nod to TV like Adam West or animation with Kevin Conway.
19:52But if you dig deep enough, you'll find there's been a bunch of actors who've played Batman in live-action
19:56outside of the most well-known versions.
19:58So for this episode, we're looking at the lesser-known live-action Batman.
20:01I'm mostly sticking to live-action because, well, there's a lot of great animated Batman productions.
20:06There's just a lot of it, and I want to make these episodes a little bit shorter.
20:10So let's start with the first actor to actually play Batman in live-action back in the 40s, Lewis Wilson.
20:16The first live-action depiction of Batman was a film serial in 1943, previously played by actor Lewis Wilson.
20:21Wilson made appearances in other films, but mostly quit acting and went to work with General Foods.
20:26His last role being in the TV show Orson Welles' Great Mysteries in 1973.
20:30A fascinating fact I found was that his wife was actress Dana Nuttall, who he starred opposite in the B
20:35-movie Wild Woman.
20:36She would later marry film producer Albert Chubby Broccoli, a.k.a. the producer of the James Bond movies.
20:41In fact, his son, Michael G. Wilson, along with his stepsister Barbara Broccoli,
20:44were producers of the franchise until they gave crew of control to Amazon MGM this year.
20:49So there's a relationship between Batman and Bond? You probably didn't know until now.
20:53In 1949, they made another serial, but Wilson didn't return as a Caped Crusader.
20:56That role would be filled out by Robert Lurie.
20:59Robert Lurie took on the role in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin.
21:02Prior to Batman, he had a lot of roles in action films, most notably in the Time Around Power film
21:07Mark of Zero in 1940.
21:10Huh.
21:10He also starred in a ton of westerns, with his most prominent one being Mick Lingtok, with John Wayne and
21:15Maureen O'Hara.
21:16He also had a steady career in TV and appeared in another DC Comics adaptation, a 1956 episode of the
21:21George Reeves Adventures of Superman show,
21:23a little bit of a cool technical crossover there.
21:25Reeves and Lurie also acted in a World War II propaganda film about VD, directed by John Ford, well before
21:32their time in the tights.
21:33Small World.
21:34Now, this one had an interesting story behind it.
21:37In 1973, five years after the cancellation of the 60s TV show, Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig reprised their roles
21:43as Robin and Batgirl for a PSA about equal pay.
21:46But Adam West did not reprise his role.
21:48At the time, West wanted to distance himself from the role, so actor Dick Gautier played the role for this
21:53PSA.
21:54Gautier has had an interesting career.
21:55He starred in the original production of Bye Bye Birdie, earning a Tony Award nomination,
21:59and had several appearances in TV shows like Get Smart, The Mary Ty Moore Show, and Charlie's Angels, among others,
22:05and films like the original Fun of Dick and Jane and Billy Jack Ghost Washington.
22:09He also had a voice acting career, including Serpento in G.I. Joe, and Rodimus Prime in Transformers.
22:13Batman wasn't his only flirtation with DC Comics, as he had an appearance in the London Carter Wonder Woman show,
22:18and a voice role in Batman the Animated Series Feet of Clay as Matt Hagen's friend.
22:22Also, his son was Rand Gautier, the man who sold Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's tape in the 90s,
22:27and was played by Zef Rogan in the Pam and Tommy miniseries.
22:30Yeah, again, small world.
22:32In the early 2000s, there was a series of adverts for OnStar, an unballed guidance system starring Batman,
22:38with the visuals taking inspiration from the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films.
22:42The ads had Michael Goh return as Alfred from those movies, alongside Curtis Armstrong as the Joker,
22:47and Brian Stepanek as the Riddler.
22:48Batman also appeared in these ads, played by actor Bruce Thomas.
22:51Thomas has had a steady career, he's done voiceover work in cartoons and video games,
22:55he was a motion-capture actor for Master Chief in the last three Halo games,
22:59and, more importantly for this video, did some voice work for some animated DC work.
23:03He was the voice of Commissioner Gordon in the DC Universe animated original movies during the New 52 period,
23:08among other films as well.
23:09He was also apparently believed to be the man who played Batman in the Birds of Prey TV show,
23:13but he debunked that.
23:14That Batman was apparently played by two stuntmen, Keith Campbell and Alex Daniels,
23:18but there isn't any confirmation of that actually being true.
23:20So, this and a few other entries I debated taking off this list.
23:24In this instance, it was because David Mazuse is a young actor,
23:27with Gotham, the Batman prequel show, focused on the scene before Batman arrived on the scene,
23:30being his big major role so far.
23:32And also because in Gotham he played a young Bruce Wayne, so technically not Batman age,
23:36but in the show's final, Mazuse wore the cape and cow for one scene.
23:40There were other moments, but he was mostly kept off screen until the last scene of the show,
23:43which was the first time Batman made an appearance on a TV show in live action since the 60s,
23:47so there's a little interesting fact for you.
23:48It was also the same year when Ian Glenn showed up as Bruce Wayne in Titans.
23:52Titans was known as one of the few live action DC shows that allowed to use Batman with an on
23:56-screen appearance,
23:57whereas others were prevented from doing so before.
23:59It's why Green Arrow appeared in Smallville, for example.
24:01In Titans, what was originally the flagship show for DC Universe, the DC Comics streaming service,
24:06yet the streaming wars were weird, Bruce Wayne appeared in season 2 and 3,
24:09played by Game of Thrones actor Ian Glenn.
24:11While he wasn't wearing the costume, I think it still counts.
24:14Glenn is an actor who's had a steady career before and since playing the Cape Crusader,
24:18so no deep-dives, but he's also been the first live-action Batman to share the screen with Jason Todd,
24:22played by Colin Reuters, so there's that for you.
24:24Also in 2019, yeah, big year for DC shows, there was a Batman show.
24:28Batman was a show set in the Arrowverse, a series of DC comic TV shows all shown in the same
24:33universe,
24:33but with a caveat that they couldn't use some of the big-name DC characters, with some exceptions.
24:38This was mostly due to the concurrent DC Extended Universe film series without reusing all the big-name characters.
24:43Batman, the Gotham City set show starring Bruce Wayne's cousin Kate Kane,
24:46then later Ryan Wilder because Ruby Rose left the show before season 2, defending Gotham in Bruce's absence.
24:52While Batman never showed up in person, sometimes he was obscured, but he managed to get Bruce Wayne to appear.
24:57In the season 2 premiere, Batman was impersonated by super-villain Harsh and appeared in a vision to Luke Fox
25:02in another episode.
25:03Both of these instances, he was played by actor Warren Christie.
25:06Warren Christie has and continues to work in TV and film.
25:08Notable appearances include an episode of Arrow as a different character,
25:11and also Supernatural, whose colleague Jensen Ackles was considered to play the role but didn't come to fruition.
25:16Also, Batman was supposed to have a crossover with Superman Lois,
25:19but that didn't happen due to the Covid pandemic affecting TV production.
25:22It's been suggested, but never confirmed, if it was supposed to include Bruce Wayne.
25:25The main plotline of Batman was about what happened to Bruce and why he disappeared.
25:29So, it would make sense for a crossover to maybe follow that plot.
25:33But it didn't happen, so there's no way of knowing what was that going to entail.
25:36So, Warren Christie's appearance came after Kevin Conway's brief live-action appearance as Bruce Wayne in the first season of
25:42Batman,
25:42but I decided to mention it at the end because I thought it would be a good way to end
25:45the video on.
25:45During the Arrow vs Cross on Infinite Earths crossover event,
25:48Kevin Conway made an appearance as an older Bruce Wayne.
25:53It's obviously well known at this point, but Kevin Conway was known for the voice of Batman
25:57in a variety of different mediums, animation, film, and video games,
26:00and in the Crisis of Cross LV, he got to play Batman, who broke his code and went bad.
26:03It's a good performance, out of several from The Man, going against type,
26:06serving as a contrast to Bran Ruth's turn as Superman in the same episode,
26:09and gets to develop every old, future version of Batman.
26:12He's got the exoskeleton from Kingdom Come, he crows Dark Knight Returns,
26:15he also gets to share a scene with Kate Kane, which this performance has a bit of historical importance.
26:18Kevin Conway is the first opening gay man to play Batman in live action,
26:22and having him show a scene with Kate Kane, one of the most prominent lesbian superheroes,
26:26and especially in an episode of her own show, is a good scene with a lot of significance to it.
26:30It also is a little bit thematically relevant to the show's overall arc,
26:34especially with Kane's character arc of trying to be Batman, or Bat-woman.
26:38Yeah, they kind of went with the legacy route.
26:39Anyway, it's a good scene with a lot of significance to it,
26:41and it's one of my favourite moments of Kevin Conway as Batman.
26:44So those were the men who were Batman in one way or another.
26:47While they may not be talked about among the well-known Bat-men,
26:50they still got to be the Dark Knight for one moment.
27:02So I've reviewed both Mononoke movies, but I've never reviewed the TV show.
27:08So I've reviewed both Mononoke movies, but I've never reviewed the TV show.
27:22So let's do that, mostly for completionist's sake,
27:26and also it adds a bit to the upcoming compilation video that I'm going to make when the third film
27:30comes out.
27:30Anyway, back to the show.
27:31Spinning off from the anthology series Ayakashi Samurai Tales, and released in 2007,
27:35Mononoke sees a mysterious medicine seller travelling to various places that usually become beset
27:40with supernatural spirits called Mononoke.
27:42To exercise these spirits, the medicine seller needs to find out for Mononoke's shape, truth, and reason.
27:48But usually in doing so, he finds out a lot more about the places he visits and the people he
27:53initially sets out to help.
27:55The show had 12 episodes, and within those episodes were serialised story arcs,
27:58often ranging from two to three episodes.
28:00The arcs are pretty quick and don't draw things out and let the mystery play out.
28:03It also manages to let the themes that underlie the horror play out.
28:07As I mentioned in my Mononoke movie reviews,
28:09the commodification of women is a persistent theme in the show, as it was in the movies,
28:13and the show also delves into other themes like the darker side of humanity, people's vices,
28:17and less savoury details are also examined in the show.
28:20Arcs like the Niuei arc, about how people will prize something that has some inherent worth,
28:24or the Zashiki-Rarashi arc, which is also about how you have to sacrifice your own choices in order to
28:29work.
28:29I could go into more depth about this, but these are mystery stories,
28:32and I feel if I give out more details it would spoil the show,
28:35so do check out the series if you want to have a better understanding of what I'm talking about.
28:39And you should really check out the show, it's well worth it.
28:41My favourite arcs of the series were the Nopperbera Bowl and Bakaniko.
28:45Nopperbera Bowl had a great story behind it,
28:47Detone Why a Woman Killed Her Husband.
28:48It's two episodes long, but as I mentioned before,
28:50the show manages to make those two episodes compelling.
28:52Bakaniko is actually a remake or setting update of the original three episodes
28:55that are written in the Ayakache Samurai Tales series,
28:58which the Medicine Seller first appeared in,
29:00moving the timeline to the 1920s,
29:02and has the Medicine Seller having to solve a murder mystery on the subway train.
29:06It's a great mystery and a good bookend for the series to end on,
29:08both on a story and thematic front.
29:10While it's not essential to watch before the show,
29:12watching in whatever order you want, honestly,
29:14I do recommend you check out the Ayakache Samurai Tales episodes,
29:17as it's a good pilot for the show, in a way,
29:19and some characters show up in the series proper,
29:21so there's good connective tissue there.
29:23Check it out if you want to be a completionist.
29:25Another aspect I should mention is the show's animation.
29:27It utilizes a bright, colorful, and cartoony art store,
29:30which evokes wood pain.
29:31The type of pain that was popular within the show's possible time period.
29:34It also serves as a good offset for the show's horror aspect.
29:37The show doesn't revel in the scariness,
29:38it gets its scare to the uncomfortableness and the unease that plays out during the episodes.
29:43It's aided by the editing,
29:44there are effective jump cuts and transitions,
29:46which adds to the odd and uneasiness of the show.
29:49If you want something scary and visually different from your typical anime,
29:52then Mononoke is the show for you.
29:54The show is at the time of recording,
29:56available on Netflix,
29:57so do check it out if you want to.
30:09Maul's Shadow Lord is the latest animated Star Wars show,
30:11this time, obviously, focusing on the Sith Lord Darth Maul.
30:14Set during the early days of the Empire,
30:16this show sees Maul trying to rebuild his criminal empire after the Clone Wars.
30:20But matters get complicated when a combination of the authorities,
30:23two surviving Jedi, and the Empire get involved.
30:25Now Maul has to navigate this perilous situation,
30:27and tries to survive to fight another day.
30:29Darth Maul's character was kind of a blank state in his debut in The Phantom Menace in 1999,
30:33but since his resurrection in The Clone Wars in 2012,
30:35Maul has become one of the more interesting characters in the Star Wars saga,
30:38having a major role in Star Wars Wars and an appearance in Solo.
30:40This first season fills in his story,
30:42showing how he ended up in that position after the Clone Wars.
30:45The show looks at Maul at a low point,
30:47and shows why he keeps going after being kicked down so many times.
30:50This idea is explored very well in my favourite episode of the season,
30:53The Creephing Fear,
30:54which goes into Maul's backstory,
30:55showing in his hellish training under Palpatine,
30:58the separation from his family,
30:59losing his legs,
31:00and then his brother,
31:01to Palpatine and the Clone Wars.
31:02The show is at its best when it delves into Maul's motivations.
31:05Sam Witwer, as good as always as Darth Maul,
31:07manages to strike a fine balance between sympathetic and sinister.
31:09But this isn't a one-man show,
31:11we also get a new cast of interesting characters.
31:13Wagner Mora plays Brandon Lawson,
31:15a police officer who comes into conflict with Maul,
31:17and lays to the Empire.
31:19The show deals with the criminal underworld of the galaxy,
31:21and he's basically the normal detective you see in other TV shows or films,
31:24complete with a son who doesn't get to interact with due to his work,
31:27clucked into the middle of a Star Wars story,
31:29and he surprisingly fits.
31:30Mora also gives a good performance here as well.
31:32We also have two Jedi Order 66 survivors,
31:35Devon and her master,
31:36Iko Dio Daki,
31:37respectively voiced by Gideon Adlon and Dennis Hainsbur.
31:41They serve as good parallel to Maul,
31:42as they are both Force users forced to go on the run.
31:45Devon and Maul's relationship is also interesting,
31:47but their master and apprentice relationship feels like a dark mirror
31:49to Anakin and Ahsoka's from the Clone Wars.
31:51Devon is a young padawan like Ahsoka,
31:53with a bit of a rebellious streak,
31:54but unlike Ahsoka,
31:55she doesn't have temperament to control them,
31:57thus susceptible to the dark side and Maul.
31:59You can also see parallels between other mentor-mentee relationships,
32:02like Hunter and Omega and the Bad Batch,
32:04or even the Mandalorian and Grogu.
32:06I'm interested to see how that relationship develops in Season 2.
32:09The animation of the show is probably a highlight for me.
32:11Managing to evolve the style originated from the Clone Wars,
32:14the show has a painted-y look.
32:15Now I do have a complaint,
32:16I do feel like we don't get to fully explore the setting,
32:19that would be the planet K'janex enough.
32:21While there have been other scum and villainy hives in Star Wars,
32:23I do wish we saw more from this one.
32:26Maul's Shadow Lord is a good character study
32:27on how someone like Maul could survive for this long,
32:30with a great supporting cast and animation to boot.
32:32Maul as a character doesn't lose his edge,
32:33and is given moments to still be a little bit villainous.
32:36There's also a great supporting cast that flesh out the story,
32:38and the animation is probably one of the best things I've seen on TV this year.
32:41The show is available to watch on Disney+.
32:55Wonder Woman is a character who's had an interesting history of media adaptations.
32:59While people can point out the two DCEU movies starring Gal Gadot and directed by Paige Jenkins,
33:05or the Linda Carter TV show from the 70s,
33:07that's mostly it, besides appearances and team-up shows like Justice League or DC Superhero Girls.
33:12Wonder Woman doesn't have the wide breadth of adaptations like her contemporaries Batman or Superman,
33:16and thus you don't have a lot of obscure oddities that is often explored that those two have.
33:20Wonder Woman does have a few...
33:22You've probably seen other people talk about the Wonder Woman pilot from 2011,
33:26made by David E. Kelly and starring Adrian Palicki,
33:28and to a lesser extent the Kathy Lee Crosby TV movie that came out before the Carter series,
33:32which looks nothing like the comic,
33:35because it took an influence from the character's run from 1968 to 1972.
33:38But there is one piece of Wonder Woman media that not a lot of people talk about.
33:41The 1967 mini-pilot, or test reel,
33:44aka Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?
33:47The pilot, or pitch reel, was produced by William Dolzer,
33:49who had a hit with Batman and tried to adapt other DC Superheroes for the small screen.
33:54The next well known was the test reel for a Batgirl show, Sonia Von Craig,
33:57but that didn't go anywhere except with Craig's Batgirl being folded into the Batman show.
34:01The Wonder Woman pilot didn't go anywhere because, well, it's not good.
34:05It takes the approach Dolzer used on Batman, a more campy and comedic take,
34:08where the comic book elements are cranked up to 11,
34:10but for Wonder Woman it doesn't work,
34:12to turn Wonder Woman into a sitcom like Bewitched,
34:14where she's more timid and clumsy than the action heroine we all know.
34:17It takes away from the fantasy elements as well,
34:20where her mother is not Queen of the Amazoners but a normal woman.
34:22It just doesn't work, it's not a good pilot and you can see why it never made its series.
34:26But let's take a look at the first woman to play Wonder Woman, Ellie Wood Walker.
34:30Walker was an actress and some of her most high-profile works were in 60's classics
34:35Target in 1968 and Easy Rider in 1969.
34:38She was also made to actor Walker for a time,
34:41best known as Charlie Evans in the Star Trek episode Charlie X.
34:44Walker wasn't the only Wonder Woman in this pilot.
34:46For a brief moment, Linda Harrison was also Wonder Woman.
34:48She's best known for her role in Nova in the original Planet of the Apes films,
34:51but she also had a small role in the Adam West Batman show, so hey, that's a cool bat connection.
34:56Wonder Woman's mother was played by character actress Morty Prickett.
34:58She was normally typecast as maids, spinsters and aunts.
35:01She's been in roles such as Harvey or North by Northwest.
35:04She's also had a previous DC acting credit,
35:06appearing in the Adventures of Superman show from the 50's.
35:08The pilot was written by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel, who would later end up writing the Carol Burnett show,
35:12and Stanley Ralph Ross, who would later become a voice actor,
35:15with works in DC cartoons like the AT Superman cartoon, Super Friends and Plastic Man.
35:19So that's the Wonder Woman pilot, an interesting oddity with various connections to other DC media.
35:24Like what you see here?
35:25Then please subscribe for my YouTube channel so you can get more Watch This Space,
35:29but also other things such as my short films.
35:31Please remember to like and subscribe to the videos you just watched,
35:34and also please check out The Orange Bin, my blog where I have write ups of my episodes here,
35:40which with links to sources that I mention on the show.
35:43It also contains some of my old blog posts, if you want to see what else I used to do
35:48back in the olden days.
35:49So please remember to check out my blog, and like and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
36:05It's July, I mean we're halfway through the year, so that means the list of my favourite TV shells of
36:09the year so far.
36:10I've never did a TV list before, but the criteria is that it must be a shell that aired in
36:142026,
36:14so if it's a foreign shell that has now gotten a release on the UK screens this year,
36:18but aired last year in its country of origin, it's not on the list.
36:21Shells that air one half of their season in the autumn or winter months will be considered for this list,
36:26if the other half airs in 2026.
36:29Anyway, let's start this list with...
36:33Gone.
36:34This was an engaging mystery film about the murder of the wife of an emotionally distant headmaster, played by David
36:38Morrissey.
36:39It was a good mystery that kept me guessing where it was going.
36:41David Morrissey, who makes his first appearance on this list in Eva Miles, gives great performances,
36:45with Morrissey playing well to his strengths, as playing people who are emotionally distant.
36:48The show will feel self-contained, but it does leave itself open for a second season,
36:51which I would be interested to see where it goes, if it does come.
36:58Invincible, Season 4.
36:59This continuing superhero saga manages to pay off a lot of plot heads from earlier seasons,
37:04but adding some new ones, which sets the stage for seasons down the line.
37:07Adding Lee Pace as the intimidating villain Frag, and a hell of a cliffhanger,
37:11I'm excited to see what comes next from this superhero saga.
37:16Small profits.
37:17From Mackenzie Couric comes this observant mediation on grief and loss,
37:21but still manages to pack a lot of charm with Belfitt's comedy and urban fantasy elements.
37:24With a great lead performance from P.S. Quigley, and a lot of mystery to keep me going,
37:28this was one of my favourites of the year.
37:33Spider Noir.
37:34Transferring Marvel's star hero to the 1930s gives us a fun and interesting alternate Spider-Man story.
37:40Nicolas Cage's kinda sorta reprisal of Spider-Man Noir in live action is a lot of fun,
37:44and the noir version of Spider-Man's supporting cast and Rogue's gallery were interesting interpretations
37:49brought together by a pretty good cast.
37:54Star Wars.
37:55More Shadow Lord.
37:56I've already reviewed this show, but in short, this animated chapter in the Star Wars saga
37:59offered a great crime-filled adventure with interesting new characters
38:01and some of the best animation I've seen this year for TV.
38:07Dead.
38:08Season 2.
38:09Zef McFarlane's sitcom prequel manages to still be funny,
38:12and manages to harken back to classic sitcoms with fun episodes like Ted and John making fake news,
38:16or a D&D adventure.
38:17It's a great example of the genre and shelves why sitcoms still work,
38:21and fills in that void left behind.
38:25The Boys.
38:26Season 5.
38:27Fiskar's adaptation ended on a decisive, but in my opinion strong now,
38:31having the celebrity and political satire take its back seat,
38:34but not too far back as it's still visible.
38:36The Boys had a more character-focused season that managed to tie up a lot of character arcs
38:40in satisfying and bloody ways.
38:44The Witness.
38:45While I do think the episode count was too short to tell the story in full,
38:48this retelling of the 1992 Rachel McHale murder case and the events after a detailed and empathic side of the
38:53story,
38:53detailing the effects of the murder and the media attention towards her widower,
38:57Andrea and her son, Alex Hanscom affected them,
39:00bolstered by great performances from Jordan Bolger and Max Fincham.
39:07Tiptoe.
39:07Russell T. Davis returns to Canal Street,
39:09and his story of a neighbourly feud that spirals out of control managed to be a very prescient and urgent
39:14piece.
39:15Managed to run the gambit of current hot topic issues like the rise of bigotry,
39:18especially to help GBTQ plus people.
39:20Tiptoe.
39:21Managed to craft an excellent tragedy.
39:22Alan Cummins and David Morsi.
39:24Hey, it's him again.
39:24Gives great performances, managed to play to a respective stream.
39:27And Russell T. Davis gives the show a very personal and even angry perspective.
39:30It's a tense state of the nation piece, and it's worth the watch.
39:36Wonder Man.
39:37The multi-manic universe goes to Hollywood with Wonder Man.
39:40Moving away from the superheroics, Wonder Man gives a great, grounded for the MCU look
39:44at a certain area of the world.
39:45Mainly the movie business, and what it would be like in a world of superheroes.
39:48We get good performances from Yahar, Abdul, Mancine II, and Bing Kingsley.
39:52And the show has an earnestness to the movie business, but doesn't let its glasses be rose-tinted,
39:56with the episode Doorman being an excellent thesis statement.
39:59So those were my favourite TV shows of the year so far.
40:01And just to recap, those were
40:02Gone, Invincible, Small Prophets, Spider-Noir, Star Wars Maul, Shadow Lord, Ted, The Boys,
40:08The Witness, Tiptel, and Wonder Man.
40:10If you liked this video, then check out my list of my favourite movies of the year so far as
40:13well.
40:14And don't forget to hit the like button, share this video with all your friends,
40:16and subscribe to my channel to get more videos like this.
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