Random Viewing Thoughts: Metalocolypse

When I'm not gaming or writing, I watch TV. Netflix and Amazon Prime are our frequent guests at home, because we dont' have cable. That means sometimes it takes a while for us to get to a series. It has to be available to stream. But it also means we can frequently watch entire seasons and series at once.

Or pick random movies. Whatever strikes our mood. And we tend to pick the less mainstream films.

And every once in a while I feel the desire to muse aloud about these shows and movies. Not really so much reviews as impressions--initial and long term--and thoughts.
Metalocalypse from wikipedia.orgWe marathoned Metalocolypse over the last couple of weekends. They're short episodes, so it's a short watch, but it's not currently free to stream after season 1, just a heads-up.

Anyway, when it comes to Metalocolypse, I'm a little torn. Okay, I'm a lot torn. It's gory, it's violent, and especially as the series starts, the main characters are not sympathetic. A bunch of death metal rockers who, as a band, have the world's seventh largest economy. Basically, their success or failure impacts the entire world's financial structure.

But it's got some giggles. So I sat through the first season and overlooked (for the most part) all the horrific cartoon blood (I'm not a fan of that in general, in case it was in question).

And then we got to the end of Season 1, and I won't spoil anything, but apparently, this dark, gratuitous show, had an underlying plot. And they teased it just enough that I had to watch and find out more.

Each season is about the same. Lots of unneccesary death, lots of ego, the standard drama that goes with any group of well-paid, spoiled artist. But always with this underlying plot about the Metalocoplypse (yes, like apocalypse, but totally metal), and how the band will play a part in it. And, of course, they wait until the last couple of episodes of each season to really suck you back into that bigger picture, and end on a cliff-hanger.

And then we got to the end of Season 4, and no more seasons :( But there was a movie. Or even better, a rock opera. I'm a fan of the rock opera, album wise. Some of my favorite albums are rock operas.

And The Doomstar Requiem was no exception. It's difficult to understand the lyrics in parts, but suddenly all the character development that's only really been hinted at over the seasons fell into place. Events were explained, large portions of this plot unfolded and engrossed me.

I kind of wish Doomstar Requiem could be appreciated without the rest of the series, but really, it doesn't stand on its own. But for a weekend of vegging and marathoning, it was a great finishing touch (except there's a season five in the works).

So, rock operas (which sounds so much fancier than musical with rock music), yay or nay?