Netflix

We've joined the modern age.  On Tuesday we subscribed to Netflix.

As I said before, for the past couple of years Mulan and I have watched movies and TV series together (often at mealtimes).

Up until now it has been free movies, on YouTube, TVNZ, TV3, etc.  For a while we were subscribed to a free (with ads) Chinese movie website, until it (mysteriously) disappeared.

But we've been scraping the bottom of the barrel lately.  Last week we watched Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters on TV3.  Neither has aged well, and the main characters in both are sleazy creeps.  The biggest positive was that Mulan learnt a couple of pop culture references.

We decided it was time to pay.  We looked at the various options, and thought Netflix looked the best (for now).  Our subscription is the most basic, for one viewing at a time only; it's like the olden days when we had only one TV.  Already we've had times when two people have tried to log in on different devices and watch at the same time.

Mama binge-watched Bridgerton.  She concluded that it was a silly soap, but still had to keep watching to see what happened!

So far I've watched the start of a few series.

Mulan and I together watched the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  My memory is that TNG and Deep Space Nine are the best in the Star Trek universe, so I wanted to see if they still held up with time.

I think TNG did.  Ignore the basic special effects and initially wooden acting.  TNG at its best is good storytelling with thought-provoking ideas.  Mulan suggested we continue with it.

The first episode of TNG (as I'm sure you know!) is where humanity is put on trial for its savage and barbaric nature.  The main characters had to try to argue that humanity has evolved and is no longer violently uncivilised.

(The next two episodes are first about a mysterious disease being passed around the spaceship and then about collecting a vaccine.  So topical in the Covid-world.  Why did the characters not practice the basics of social distancing and contact tracing that we Covid-veterans all know so well now?!)

Then I watched the first episode of The Witcher.  The opening scene has a man (who turns out to be the witcher) fighting a large spider-thing in a swampy forest.  I didn't know who I should be supporting.  The man, because he looked human?  Or the spider-thing, because clearly the swampy forest is the natural habitat of spider-things, and the man appeared the violent invader?

Sadly, the man survived and the spider-thing did not.

It turns out the man has a strict code of honour.  He only kills monsters for money.  He doesn't kill humans for money.  But he kills humans when he antagonises them into attacking him.  Or something like that.  He's good at killing.  But the first episode suggests that the man will soon have events thrust upon him in which his self-certainty will be challenged.

I'm not going to watch any more.  It seems like empty violence-porn to me (with a bit of gratuitous nudity-porn thrown in, too).  If the Star Trek judge had have watched The Witcher he would've immediately found humanity guilty; Star Trek would've ended after one episode.

Mulan and I also watched The Good Place.  It's another excellent keeper, and we'll continue watching it.

Finally, I tried out Star Trek: Discovery.  Special effects and action dominate, while the storytelling is simplistic.  I won't bother continuing with it.

We're also looking forward to watching more Miyazaki's movies.  Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is my favourite.

At this rate we'll stay subscribed to Netflix for a long time to come.