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Post by geneweigel on Feb 25, 2014 14:25:19 GMT -5
Has anyone been watching this?
I'm going to say it right upfront that it seems to be a modern crime adaptation of Robert W. Chambers' short story collection "KING IN YELLOW" (1895) i.e. the one that includes Hastur of Cthulhu mythos fame and it also rings slightly of the story CALL OF CTHULHU (1926) as well.
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Post by Scott on Feb 25, 2014 15:52:11 GMT -5
Hmmm. I have not, but your mild spoiler is intriguing.
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Post by GRWelsh on Feb 27, 2014 10:48:21 GMT -5
I've been wanting to read more of the Robert Chambers stories. I recently read "Maker of the Moons," as it appears in an old Ballantine Fantasy paperback that I bought on eBay. That was a pretty good imprint from back in the 1960's and 70's that brought back many of the out-of-print stories from the pulp era and even earlier.
Chambers -- now that is fantasy from my great-great-grandfather's era! Frank Welsh. I don't think he was much of a reader, though. He got into an accident with a wagon overturning and died in 1906 at the age of 30. Alcohol might have been involved.
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Post by geneweigel on Feb 27, 2014 15:18:36 GMT -5
I've been wanting to read more of the Robert Chambers stories. I recently read "Maker of the Moons," as it appears in an old Ballantine Fantasy paperback that I bought on eBay. That was a pretty good imprint from back in the 1960's and 70's that brought back many of the out-of-print stories from the pulp era and even earlier. If you love Cthulhu mythos then he is the unsung hero. Chambers -- now that is fantasy from my great-great-grandfather's era! Frank Welsh. I don't think he was much of a reader, though. He got into an accident with a wagon overturning and died in 1906 at the age of 30. Alcohol might have been involved. Don't laugh, I recall this one time at a party packed with relatives, it was around 5 years after my grandfather died, I was about 13, and I was looking for something to watch on my godmother's VCR that she had taped. I was like "SHOGUN!? I remember Grandpa reading that book!" Holy crap! Big mistake. It was like I opened a can of worms and poured it onto a birthday cake. Apparently, he wasn't supposed to be literate enough to randomly be reading a book about Asia according to his children. SAVAGES! Well, my mother and her siblings anyway.  |
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 9, 2014 12:49:36 GMT -5
I think tonight is the final episode.
This has been a pretty big build up so I'm hoping for some of the instant madness that was in KING IN YELLOW and the Cthulhu mythos.
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Post by Scott on Mar 13, 2014 22:01:44 GMT -5
So what did you think of the finally?
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 14, 2014 7:53:28 GMT -5
Well, to say without ruining anything it was very ambiguously laden with mystery like the whole series and then there was some weird but don't expect direct Cthulhu type stuff. Overall it was very entertaining. There was some reference to Chambers' material within the material too.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 10, 2016 7:21:52 GMT -5
I started watching this on NETFLIX. I watched the first three episodes of Season 1 and I'm hooked. I get the "Call of Cthulhu" vibe -- it is even set in Louisiana -- but now I'm going to have to finish THE KING IN YELLOW also to really appreciate this. I've read very little of the Robert Chambers stuff, so now this is a motivation to read more.
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Post by geneweigel on Oct 10, 2016 8:15:05 GMT -5
I only watched the first one (or two?) episode(s) of Season 2 and it seemed completely different.
I like to nail down "the monster" in a story the KING IN YELLOW by Chambers keeps you interested in that the "the monster" gets more and more scarce with each vignette. Which it seems that this was conceived as a modern continuance but I think it takes a few steps back into the directness of "the monster". While most of the type of crimes in TRUE DETECTIVE are most likely off screen in the CALL OF CTHULHU story I've always assumed something crude like this is there from Lovecraft's allusions in the atmosphere.
Watching season one then season two reminds me of a time when I watched a creepy NIGHT GALLERY (1969-1973) marathon then there was supernatural episode after supernatural episode then it all turns into people with mental problems verging on the paranormal (the integrated THE SIXTH SENSE series from 1972) one right after the other. Or is there something in season 2 that I missed? Don't get me wrong I like all the actors in season 2 (McAdams, Vaughn, Farrell are all top notch) I just tuned out for some reason.
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 475
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Post by foster1941 on Oct 10, 2016 9:56:44 GMT -5
Nothing supernatural in season two. Just corrupt industrialists and politicians, sex trafficking and crooked land deals. We watched that whole season waiting for the twist that would make it all seem fresh and shocking and it never arrived - the shape of the entire season was totally clear in the first episode, and just slowly played out. I think the writer intended each season of the show to be totally separate except for being centered around cops, and was caught off-guard by how much people connected with season 1 - with the characters, and the supernaturalish elements - and wanted season 2 to continue to develop if not the same story, at least the same themes, which is why it got so much hate. Well, that and the fact that it was boring and extremely predictable.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 10, 2016 10:26:43 GMT -5
Well, I guess now I don't have to watch Season 2.
I was hoping the title "True Detective" was going to refer an overreaching theme for the show about detectives who become 'true detectives' meaning they uncover some deeper Lovecraftian truths about the world. McConaughey's character (brilliantly acted by the way) certainly seems to hint in that direction. So I was thinking:
Detective = police trying to solve crimes
True Detective = someone trying to figure out the truth about reality
I guess I'm wrong.
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Post by geneweigel on Oct 10, 2016 12:21:01 GMT -5
On an aside about season 2, I like Colin Farrell, he reminds me of the "paddies off the boat" that used to linger in the "Mcbars" of the city that my Dad was holed up in. Its a shame he did DAREDEVIL (2003) the movie though. That was terrible. Well, at least they rebooted it with the Netflix series which I thought was easily the best show of 2015. D'Onofrio's Kingpin is a Marvel fan's dream come true. I have not watched season 2 of that either though. A Farrell movie I watched recently was IN BRUGES (2008) that was pretty good.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 19, 2016 15:36:23 GMT -5
I just watched the episode with the burglary in the projects that went bad! That was awesome TV.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 27, 2016 14:19:57 GMT -5
I finally finished season one and I thought it was great. I thought it was going to be more overtly Lovecraftian/supernatural, but I was fine with the way it all played out.
Admittedly, I kind of zoned out on how all the details and clues were supposed to fit together by the end.
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Post by geneweigel on Jul 20, 2022 23:47:48 GMT -5
Heh, I went nuts and watched the entire season 2 of this. Seven years too late! It was alright but it was too modern pulp where it takes the sorry state of California way too seriously and goes PC here and there that seemed dumb. BTW there is not a speck of sci-fi horror like in the first season.
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Post by grodog on Jul 21, 2022 19:54:48 GMT -5
FWIW: I heard that S3 is much better than S2, but not as good as S1.
Allan.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 21, 2022 22:03:20 GMT -5
Based on reviews we watched S1, skipped S2, and then watched S3 when it came out. I enjoyed S3 as much as S1. Strength of the leads was comparable.
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