TV Series Review: Wednesday (2022, Netflix) *No Spoilers*

TV Series Review: Wednesday (2022, Netflix) No Spoilers

It's kind of refreshing to see a show with Tim Burton's name on it that, while it is everything you'd expect Tim would be into, it feels like he paired it back just enough that it doesn't scream Tim Burton at you (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

Wednesday somehow manages to be a fine blend of the source material and Tim Burton's signature style. To the point where Wednesday feels more like a next chapter in the story rather than a whole new thing. It almost feels like a continuation of The Adams Family movies that Christina Ricci (who co-stars in Wednesday) played a younger version of Wednesday in.

It's easy to imagine that it could be, given the rest of the Adams family doesn't play a very prominent role in the series overall. So you're not bumping into the new cast too much at all, and Wednesday Adams (Jenna Ortega) is older here - and it's not unusual to see a child actor recast older in sequels.

The basic premise is Wednesday is sent to her mother's old school for outcast children after being kicked out of her previous school. While there she becomes entangled in a multiple murder mystery of prophetic proportions that puts the entire school in danger.

Jenna Ortega basically redefines the character for emo gothic teens everywhere. It would be easy to criticize that Wednesday is something of a Mary Sue type character, good at everything, smarter than everyone, but somehow it's completely within the realms of a character that has mostly been defined as a preteen (but a seriously smart preteen) until now. She's basically Sherlock Holmes level smart.

While Jenna is completely intriguing as Wednesday, with all her quirks, and is very watchable, the rest of the cast are equally up to the task of not being overshadowed. Particularly Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair who kind of plays the comedic role to Jenna's straight man/person/woman? Basically an all new 'Odd Couple' type friendship.

Gwendoline Christie as Principal Larissa Weems was also a standout with her imposing size in contrast to Jenna (and pretty much everyone really). This is probably the closest thing to a 'normal' (for want of a better word) character I've seen her play where she just is able to act.

I did enjoy that Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill was right in the thick of the story and wasn't just in the series for a brief cameo Easter Egg type appearance.

Overall Wednesday is an enjoyable series that does manage to keep you guessing despite the mystery not being anything you may not have seen before (just with a few less monsters). In fact the show does play a bit like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The real fun is watching Jenna play Wednesday and how she interacts with a whole range of characters, none of whom are particularly normal people either.

Great to see something from Tim Burton that isn't completely the full Burton turned up to eleven but is still very much within his wheelhouse. It still has his stamp on it but I really appreciate that it doesn't stray too far into his visionary sensibilities.

Comments

New Cat Art Collaboration: TET's Cats Paintings and OpenArt AI Model Workspace (Photobooth)

TET's Cats AI generated art trained on my own art style. Way back in the early 2000's I started painting stylized cat artworks to illustrate some cat themed poems I'd written, that I exhibited and sold online in an exhibition titled 'Sleeping Cats' in 2004. You can see all these early works in my Flickr Album . Many are also available to buy as prints in my RedBubble Store . Leading on from that I began selling my paintings on ebay where the cat themed works were almost guaranteed to sell over any other subject I painted. As a result I became some what known for my cat art to the point where people would commission me to create images of their own pet cats in my cartoony style. Flash forward a decade (almost two at this point) and I haven't painted any cat themed art in years. To be honest I haven't done any traditional painting at all in years. In the last couple of years AI image generators have really caught my attention. Specifically that they are able t...

The Dukes of Hazard Movie - My Thoughts

The Dukes of Hazard is a movie that I wanted to see when it was released in 2005 but didn't because, well, I just didn't get around to it. Not only that but when I heard Johnny Knoxville and Jessica Simpson were in it my expectations were immediately lowered to "it's probably not going to be what I hoped it could be." Which is why I've never been pro-active about hiring the movie on DVD. Last night I saw it was being shown on free to air TV. I happened to have the time to watch, so I did. To sum up my experience... I didn't get fired up by the movie until I watched the 'bloopers' in the end credits. The Dukes of Hazard signature is the car. The General Lee flying through the air in some flat out impossible jumps. We know they're impossible jumps but they're just so cool you kind of want to believe the General Lee can do them. The point is, in the TV series, you never (or rarely) saw the General Lee not land safely and undamaged. Thus, seei...

Embarrassing Yourself with Doof Doof Music

Ever since Spinal Tap popularized the notion of turning an amp up to eleven audio systems have been rising to the challenge of louder, more awesome sound. In particular, car audio systems have embraced the notion of the bigger the noise the better the sound must surely be. What I'd like to know is, if these sound systems are so good, why do they make all music sound the same... Doof, Doof, Doof? You've all heard them. Pimped up cars, with audio systems seemingly worth more than gold, volume blasting way past eleven. Sound waves booming long before you make a positive visual on the car... Doof, Doof, Doof. It has to be the audio system right? Surely all these people can't be playing the same tune? Doof, Doof, Doof. Could it be that the more money spent on a car sound system the less musical range it will actually play? Maybe these people can't afford to buy music after purchasing the audio system so they all play the same demo track? Doof, doof, doof. In my own car I hav...

Review: ArtHelper - The All-In-One AI Writing + Marketing Assistant for Artists - 'ChatGPT for Artists'

ArtHelper prides itself on being all 'human-made' art. T he idea of an AI, trained specifically on art business marketing, that can not only offer advice on marketing your work, but also assist with creating all the content too, is certainly appealing. Especially to those of us who would rather spend more time creating our art than trying to sell it. ArtHelper does just that whilst attempting to be your 'home' on the internet. A destination for your profile and portfolio, a marketplace for your art, and a directory of artists as well, with one distinction - all the art must be human made. Which, for you AI artists, doesn't count the prompt for AI generated art - because the idea, according to ArtHelper's creators, isn't the art. Which is a fair point, in terms of promoting art 'made by a human', but can get kind of murky when you understand that not all AI art is generated from a single prompt... and 'found object art' isn't actually ...

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...

TET Artwork Diary: Nansen The Cabin Boy's Cat of the Belgian Sailing Ship, RV Belgica, Trapped in an Antarctica Winter, 1897

Belgica in the ice. 1897. Photo: Adrien de Gerlache Y ou wouldn't ordinarily think of cats and penguins together in the same image but that's what I found myself creating when thinking of an idea for my next painting. I have painted penguins before as part of my Australian Animals series from the early 2000's, and I have a couple of cartoon penguins (that you can see in a very old post, Designing Formal Penguins ) I created for a Yeti skateboard graphic, so, I didn't just randomly think, 'penguins'. Recently I had a revelation about my art, in that I don't simply paint pictures of cats, I paint 'relationships'. Almost all of my paintings of cats feature two or more cats, or a cat with something, such as a butterfly, bird, fish, goat... and why not a penguin? However, I didn't want to just paint some random cat with some random penguin. I wondered if there was ever any real cats in history that may have a reason to meet a penguin? Turns out, on...

Try My Free Solo and Multi-player Game of SKATE App - A Skateboard Session Score Tracker for Mobile Devices - gameofskate.tet.life

My skateboarding time is often limited to short solo sessions in my driveway and I wanted to make that a little more fun. O ne thing I've wanted for a long time is a solo version of Game of S.K.A.T.E. As someone who mostly skateboards in my driveway, by myself, it can be a bit tedious to run through the tricks you know every session, then maybe spend time learning something new. I've often thought, what might make a solo session more fun is an app that gamifies practicing the tricks you know, and allows you to add tricks as you learn them, or encourages you to try tricks that are pretty much skateboarding basics any skateboarder would aspire to learn. The idea has been in my head for more than half a decade at this point. While I was a computer programmer back in the day (we're talking late 1980s) I haven't kept up with coding. At least nothing more complex than HTML and Java script bashing. I did try to learn one of the many game creators ( Construct for a different ...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog