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Overall, do you think the Disney+ MCU shows were a good or bad idea?

pramod

Banned
I know there will be varying opinions on the quality of the shows themselves. I think we can all agree some of them like Wandavision were quite good and must-sees, but some of them are just "ok" and might not be worth your time to sit through the whole series.
And therein lies the main problem for me. These shows are used to introduce and set up new characters and villains and plot threads that will return in future MCU movies/shows. It's how the MCU has always worked. You have to watch everything to stay "connected" to the MCU.

So when the MCU was just a couple of movies a year, this isn't a big issue or hassle. But now that you have to watch 7-8 episodes per show just to keep up, and if the shows aren't that great, it's a whole different matter.
It becomes more of a chore, and for me, I simply gave up in trying to "keep up" with the MCU. They lost me somewhere in between black Cap and female Loki. The shows just weren't compelling enough for me to watch every episode.
Even Moon Knight, which I was excited for, was just not good enough to make me sit through 8 episodes of it. I stopped at episode 4.

So as a result these shows actually made me less interested in the MCU, because it made me feel like if I don't watch all these shows, I'll be "missing out" and I'll never be able to fully appreciate the "universe". So why even try?
I mean I have no idea what happened in Loki. I didn't watch Hawkeye. So maybe I'm not going to be able to "get" the Kang movie when it comes out. Like how some people might have been really confused by Dr. Strange 2 if they didn't
watch Wandavision. And you can even argue that you had to watch What If? as an introduction to Captain Carter.

I wish they had done things a bit differently, ie kinda like what they did with the Star Wars shows/movies. ie the shows may have some of the same characters but their stories are pretty separate from each other. ie not watching Boba Fett is not going to decrease
your enjoyment of Obi Wan, etc.
 
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FunkMiller

Member
Very Bad.

Massive oversaturation of the IP, with the endless churn leading to less curated, less focused, and more sloppy storytelling.

Nothing is being made for genuine creative reasons. It’s all being stamped out on a factory production line, to flog both Disney Plus subscriptions and merchandise.

It‘s a dilution and decay of what was once an incredibly well thought out and executed narrative… because the mouse gotta have every last cent in your wallet.
 
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AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Question translates directly to "are they making a profit?"

People with FOMO forcing themselves to watch hours and hours of stuff they don't care about just to feel in-the-loop are doing it to themselves. Same goes for Disney Wars. You can let go at any time. I've barely kept up with anything after Endgame because it noticeably became more and more of a soulless product line, even Endgame itself felt like an advertisement for movies that had already been and gone.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
I wish they had done things a bit differently, ie kinda like what they did with the Star Wars shows/movies. ie the shows may have some of the same characters but their stories are pretty separate from each other. ie not watching Boba Fett is not going to decrease
your enjoyment of Obi Wan, etc.
But it might make you go WTF, why is Grogu back with Mando if you didn't watch Boba Fett.

I think it might come back to bite them if they do too many movies that depend on a series like WandaVision > MoM.

Movies should have some sort of recap at the start(like Obi-Wan did) or have a character give a short summary of important things that happened before if it builds off of key events that happened outside the movie.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Super Heros and Star Wars should be big budget and not over saturated.

So for me NO tv shows.

Mandalorian season 1 was good. I didnt see any of the Marvel ones, but I find it hard to beleive that they couldnt have taken the best elements of Loki or WandaVision and just made 1 or 2 amazing movies.

All this proliferation of TV shows is just a way to sell their streaming service. Certain things work great as a TV show, Breaking Bad, things that are in real life. Sci Fi can work great as well if its developed for TV first (think Star Trek).

But Star Wars and Marvel was developed for big screens with big budgets and it just didnt work for me when they watered that down with lower budgets and more episodes.
 

wondermega

Member
Meh, it's been an interesting experiment. Some of the shows surprised me; Loki and Moon Knight were both very well done, and I had zero interest in either going in. However Wandavision overstayed it's welcome for me about halfway through, and the end just turned me off. Nothing else I watched on the service was particularly memorable (it was all extremely well-crafted, for what it was, but nothing that's really stuck with me beyond what I've mentioned).

I still have D+ but really thinking it is not gonna be too much longer until I cancel. I can't think of much else that is so compelling going forward that I'd really need to keep it (ok.. kinda wanna give She-Hulk a shot, and definitely in for more Loki, but otherwise..)
 

NahaNago

Member
I think the idea was good but how they released it was terrible. Like they all of a sudden released a bunch of Disney mcu tv shows when we had none. They should have went with a more hype epic fomo tv show of the year versus what they have been doing. Maybe 1 big tv show a year to tie in the marvel universe.

Star wars has been a mixed bag. I honestly haven't even watched the last 2 tv shows and I don't feel like I've missed much.
 

Mihos

Gold Member
I love them. Pretty much the same as comic book release schedules and parallel stories going on at the same time leading to a major event.
 

Rockondevil

Gold Member
A show here or there I could maybe get behind. But there’s just too many.
I, like many, watched every movie day 1. When it comes to the shows I’ve only watched 2 I think.
 

Little Mac

Member
There are a few that I thoroughly enjoyed but I agree with others that it's becoming oversaturated and also, due the "superhero" themes, the budgets for these shows need to be higher or it kills the immersion.
 

Ownage

Member
Loki was decent. The rest were lame. I quit watching after Hawkeye. The younger demographic focus is very much not in my interest.
 
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YCoCg

Member
The ones that do stuff different to the movies and then connected have worked best so far, ...so just WandaVision as that format wouldn't have worked in a movie but is a perfect set up for the continuation in MoM.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Good for hardcore fans I guess, but bad for casual viewers like me.

Being forced to watch a show [or at least look up a synopsis] because otherwise the basic premise of a movie is lost on me fucking sucks.
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Good for hardcore fans I guess, but bad for casual viewers like me.

Being forced to watch a show [or at least look up a synopsis] because otherwise the basic premise of a movie is lost on me fucking sucks.
It been good across the board. Even if you personally do not like the content the numbers around D+ when it launched and WandaVision/Loki were on the way do not lie. It was not just the hardcore fans that drove that growth. Unless you want to say the majority of D+ subscribers are hardcore MCU fans. You can debate the quality. You can debate the writing. You can debate if something was needed.


You can't debate results and D+ has results. Those shows set D+ on the path to early success. They were worth every penny.
 

sol_bad

Member
I think it's a good idea even though they haven't hit the target with every show. WandaVision and Ms. Marvel wouldn't be possible in a movie format.

I'm personally pretty excited to see what Secret Invasion brings to the table as it's the first production that wouldn't have been very impacted by COVID. It'll be interesting to see if it is COVID that was dropping quality for the shows.
 

JCK75

Member
It was a good idea to make MCU shows on D+, it was a bad idea to hire the writers they hired to do so.
 

RAÏSanÏa

Member
Saturation was complained about before. The complaint is just another contrived way for busybodies who should watch something they enjoy to say "Stop liking what I don't like!" except now add "It's taking too much work to keep up to complain"
 

Jaybe

Member
They funny part is Loki was reasonably good comedy (main actor is great in the role) for 3 or 4 of the 6 episodes but then the last episode that introduces the baddy for this phase/saga was the absolute most boring and panned episode of the bunch and ended it all on a whimper and likely left people feeling rather uninterested that this is the follow-up to Thanos. I tried two episodes of WV but didn’t care. Tried playing Falcon in the background but couldn’t be bothered. I’m done with their TV stuff, and it needs to be an absolute amazing movie to get me interested enough to go to the theatre.
 
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Billbofet

Member
I think overall it's a good thing for the Marvel universe. While I don't care for, or watch most of the shows, it does expand the universe. Quality is pretty high as well.
In contrast, the shows for Star Wars have actively made the universe seem smaller, inbred, and way less interesting (Skywalker, Tatooine, etc.). Look cheap as hell too.
 

TrueLegend

Member
Nope. Especially because of what they did to Kingpin. Everything has absolutely zero fucking stake which can work for one movie or episode but to make a cinematic universe where even deaths of people like loki can not be permanent because of milking fandom money yeah fuck no. The whole obi wan TV series was unnecessary. I know the last episode supposedly filled some gaps but those gaps were fine compared to the shitshow the entire series leading to final episode was. It looked too fucking low budget drama, somehow poorer than mandalorian and bobba fett.
 
Bad.

A lot of people that liked to wach the movies are out of the loop about these new shows. Also many are about B-tier characters that nobody gives a fuck about. The next avengers movie will be a joke with big tier characters missing and replaced by shittier characters (ms marvel, shehulk, wannabe captain america, ...)
 

Kabelly

Member
I started watching that new Dr. Strange movie and I felt like I missed a whole chunk of info. But I don't know how connected that was to the shows.
 

AJUMP23

Member
I think it is oversaturation of an already over saturated franchise. I think they do what they are doing because they want to always have something for people to talk about. They also need content for their service so they run the meat grinder.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
VERY VERY bad. They are doing the same thing to the MCU that they are doing to Star Wars, shoving it in our faces soooo much that we all just hate it now. Its like hearing a good pop song over and over again until one day you just hate it because its so overplayed. They need to take some time off.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Not for me. It's entertainment rolled off a production line to please the plebs. Very low brow stuff.

However, clearly its been a success for Disney and a majority of people who like this stuff are are pleased with it, so in that regard it was a good idea.
 

PSYGN

Member
Good for hardcore fans I guess, but bad for casual viewers like me.

Being forced to watch a show [or at least look up a synopsis] because otherwise the basic premise of a movie is lost on me fucking sucks.

I also fall into this camp. I tried watching Wandavision but after half a season I just couldn't trick myself into caring about it anymore. The more they prop up the idea that you need to watch the shows to know about the movie's story the more they'll lose us casuals who just want to watch a superhero film without knowing the backstory.
 
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RAÏSanÏa

Member
Expanding the universe is great. It's not the constant treadmill of the same characters and retelling the same basic origin story different ways every decade. The continuation adds a depth for those that want to go further with it. It's great for new fans and kids too, they don't have to be stuck with the same characters. They can enjoy new ones with new lore in a vast fiction.

Disney does seem to be going towards compartmentalizing the series by genre & age while trying to maintain an overall accessibility. The heavy drama of Bucky and the Doctor in FatWS isn't the same demo as Ms. Marvel.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
I've given up.

Its frankly too much.

I watched all of wandavision and did enjoy it.

Then I jumped into falcon and winter soldier and gave up around 4 episodes in.

I haven't watched a single show since, and I have resigned to the fact that I will be lost in these new movies.

I mean, fuck. If I didn't watch wandavision, I think I would have been wondering what the fuck was happening in MoM.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
I've given up.

Its frankly too much.

I watched all of wandavision and did enjoy it.

Then I jumped into falcon and winter soldier and gave up around 4 episodes in.

I haven't watched a single show since, and I have resigned to the fact that I will be lost in these new movies.

I mean, fuck. If I didn't watch wandavision, I think I would have been wondering what the fuck was happening in MoM.
Yep and thats the problem, the quality keeps getting worse and worse in the shows, and its making the rest of the MCU seem cheaper and cheaper.

I enjoyed Loki but really only "loved" the first and last episode, I made it through Falcon and Winter soldier, it was just ok, I made it through Hawkeye, it was horrible save for one single scene (the deaf scene where hawkeye was trying to talk to his son on the phone), I gave up on Moon Knight 3 episodes in, it was horrible, I havnt had the energy to watch Ms. Marvel and I have lots all interest in seeing the newst Thor movie after how bad Dr. Strange 2 was. What If was the biggest waste of money and time ever and I regret that I watched it all.

The quality of the MCU is just in free fall right now, and we have no AAA pillars to stand it up again until Black Panther 2 (if thats even good). Guardians 3 will likely be a stream only thing for me given how bad 2 was and how much I just hat all the characters. The lack of Cap and Iron Man (really just the lack of RDJ) is going to be felt more and more.
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I’ve really enjoyed them. Particularly wandavision, Hawkeye, and moon knight.
Yeah they have all been different levels of enjoyable. They have also gone really out there with some of the concepts that just wouldn't fly in the mainline movies.
 
It must be good for Disney because they keep making them and have plans to continue this model.

For me, it put the nail in the coffin for my favorite franchise (Star Wars). Mando S1 & S2 had me invested, but then they retconned the end of Mando S2 in the Boba Fett shitshow and I don't care anymore. I still generally follow what's happening with the franchise, but I don't support them with my wallet anymore. Myself and others like me won't make any impact on their bottom line so I'd say Disney probably made the right choice. Most of the nerds complaining about Star Wars probably have an active D+ subscription anyway.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
For me, it put the nail in the coffin for my favorite franchise (Star Wars). Mando S1 & S2 had me invested, but then they retconned the end of Mando S2 in the Boba Fett shitshow and I don't care anymore.
Is it a retcon though? It's more that whatever Mando S2 finale set up is undone rather quickly and unceremoniously in a few episodes of Boba Fett.

What's more disturbing is what was done to Luke, acting a little Sith like with his choices and clinging to the no emotional attachment thing for Jedi's which contradicts his behaviour in ROTJ. Also, WTF is he doing giving a child these choices. The monotone line delivery from his AI voice didn't help either. 👀
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Not for me. It's entertainment rolled off a production line to please the plebs. Very low brow stuff.

However, clearly its been a success for Disney and a majority of people who like this stuff are are pleased with it, so in that regard it was a good idea.
The movies sure, the TV shows have been surprisingly unique. The winter soldier one and the Hawkeye were standard cut down movie fare, but the others are often pretty weird.
 

DKehoe

Gold Member
I know for me personally it’s contributed to me feeling burnt out on it. There’s a bunch of the Disney+ stuff I haven’t seen. The films now feel less like big events because before you’d only get a handful of Marvel films a year and that was it. Now it feels like we’re getting a new Marvel “thing” churned out most weeks.

For me it’s also added to the feeling that the MCU is just “content”
 
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Is it a retcon though? It's more that whatever Manda S2 finale set up is undone rather quickly and unceremoniously in a few episodes of Boba Fett.

What's more disturbing is what was done with Luke, acting a little Sith like with his choices and clinging to the no emotional attachment thing for Jedi's which contradicts his behaviour in ROTJ. Also, WTF is he doing giving a child these choices. The monotone line delivery from his AI voice didn't help either. 👀
Yeah I'm using retcon a bit loose but you nailed my overall sentiment. A setup two seasons in the making undone so they can return to status quo because Grogu is the most profitable character in the Disney era. They managed to ruin the one thing I was holding onto as a fan. As far as I'm concerned, Mando S2 is the end of that storyline.
 
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