Marvel's LEGION TV show by FX 1 1

[OrangeCrush]

There are so many TV shows now that I didn't even know this show existed. I actually quite enjoyed the movie. I am assuming its based off of that. Gonna have to put this on this list of shows to watch.

 

[Bosco685]

6 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

There are so many TV shows now that I didn't even know this show existed. I actually quite enjoyed the movie. I am assuming its based off of that. Gonna have to put this on this list of shows to watch.

 

If you mean the Heaven versus Hell movie 'Legion', this is different. This is based on Charles Xavier's son 'Legion'.

[OrangeCrush]

4 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

If you mean the Heaven versus Hell movie 'Legion', this is different. This is based on Charles Xavier's son 'Legion'.

Thats even better. Now I really have to watch it.Thanks for the heads up!

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

Although I like the actor from Wonder Woman that was going to play The Shadow King on LEGION, I am glad they ended up with the actor in this role now. Dark, secretive and cocky where you want to see him get what he is due in the end.

David's poor sister. 

[kdoginohio]

so, is the shadow king really mojo? haven't started second season yet.

[Bosco685]

 

[fantastic_four]

On 4/28/2018 at 11:27 PM, stock_rotation said:

On 4/26/2018 at 7:10 PM, fantastic_four said:

This may have been true all along, but the last episode switched back and forth between a boxed version of the events, i.e. a black frame around everything on the top/bottom and both sides, and full-screen video that it occurred to me Hawley is trying to tell us something about the reality they're seeing with the black boxing.  At first I thought the boxing meant we're seeing the Astral Plane, and maybe that's exactly what it means, but I"m not sure of it.  Does anyone feel like they get what the black boxing is trying to communicate about the events we're seeing?

This storytelling device has been around since the first episode. We first see it when David is on the phone trying to find out where Syd is, and Ptonomy and Kerry are chasing him. It switches from fullscreen to letterbox while he's on the phone, and switches back once he's been captured. In between, Syd shows up and explains she's not real, she's inserted herself into his memories.

In my understanding, Hawley is letting us know when we switch from what I'd call 'the show's observable reality' to 'a character's internal thoughts/memories', which may or may not reflect the actual reality. It becomes a little tricky in the Syd-centric episode, because we're not in reality, we're in the Astral Plane, but the letterboxing lets us know when we're watching David or Syd's internal monologue. It's letterboxed when Syd's climbing out of the igloo, and it switches back when she's born. It's letterboxed while David finds his way through the snowstorm to the igloo, and switches back when you see he's entered the museum.

That's good insight, thanks.

Over the last two episodes I noticed that there are at least three different styles of boxing/no-boxing, and it's easiest to reference them by looking at the "FX" logo in the lower-right corner.  What is Hawley trying to say with each one?  I'm really not sure now.  It seems that the more boxing there is the less real the scene is, but I'm really not sure what the intermediate level of half-boxing is telling us.

Here's normal with no boxing, which in this example since Oliver and Lenny are in it we know is taking place in the Astral Plane, so obviously the boxing says nothing about whether it's the real world or Astral Plane:

Here's partial or half-boxing where the bottom of the visible area is lined up with the bottom of the "FX" logo.  This, too, takes place on the Astral Plane since we see both Shadow King in a body and Oliver.  Hawley has used half-boxing a LOT the past few episodes.

Then there's full boxing where the bottom of the visible area is fully above the "FX" logo.  Coincidentally or not, all of the Jon Hamm voiceover narrative scenes are in this full boxing style.

Edited May 9, 2018 by fantastic_four

[quadman78]

Are you sure the second one is the Astral plane? My interpretation of that scene was in “reality” with Farouk inside Oliver and the Farouk we see is more a device to show us the conversations going on between Oliver and Farouk. 

Kind of like when they attacked, we saw Oliver disintegrating the guards but it was really Farouk inside him doing it.

But I could be way off.

[fantastic_four]

25 minutes ago, quadman78 said:

Are you sure the second one is the Astral plane? My interpretation of that scene was in “reality” with Farouk inside Oliver and the Farouk we see is more a device to show us the conversations going on between Oliver and Farouk. 

Kind of like when they attacked, we saw Oliver disintegrating the guards but it was really Farouk inside him doing it.

But I could be way off.

I didn't realize it but you're right...I forgot that Oliver escaped from the Astral Plane in the last episode of last season.  I now have to re-evaluate all of Oliver's scenes this season...I thought his turning people to dust was all in the Astral Plane.

So re-referencing the pics I posted I suppose both of those are in the real world.  So why is the one with Astral Lenny in full-screen but the one with Astral Farouk is half-boxed?

Edited May 9, 2018 by fantastic_four

[kdoginohio]

so, Starlord's not the only one who can have a dance off? also, thought the scene about the Xavier/Farouk battle from X-men 117 was great. although I did have to rewind it a couple of times.

[stock_rotation]

On 5/9/2018 at 2:32 PM, fantastic_four said:

So re-referencing the pics I posted I suppose both of those are in the real world.  So why is the one with Astral Lenny in full-screen but the one with Astral Farouk is half-boxed?

First off, thanks for recognizing and documenting the different screen sizes. It's another fascinating little twist!

In my earlier explanation, I said letterboxing was a character's thoughts or memories. I think a better term might be psychic perspective. We are seeing a viewpoint that's available only from inside a character's mind, sort of like visual version of an internal monologue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

Standard HD (16:9) full screen (your pic #1) is observable reality
Widescreen (2.35:1) (pic #2) is a scene from a character's perspective, and may not reflect observable reality
Ultra Panavision (2.76:1) (pic #3) is the other letterboxing, and I'll get back to this.

That scene with Oliver and Farouk in the car is a good example. It starts with the camera moving through the window and the opening credits. We can see both Oliver and Farouk in the car, and the shot is in Standard HD. This is what's happening in the real, observable world.

It comes back from the break, and it's now in Widescreen. I suspect what we're watching now is Oliver's psychic perspective. He is having a conversation with Farouk seated in the backseat of a convertible driving down the highway. They are speaking in normal tones, but in reality, there's no way they'd be able to hear each other. I think they are having a "psychic" conversation. In reality, they are traveling in silence, and this conversation is happening in Oliver's mind.

The following scene is them bringing up Lennie's body. It's still in Widescreen (Oliver's perspective), but it switches back to Standard HD only when we are shown Oliver retrieving the gun, because this happens in observable reality. The rest is Oliver's psychic perspective on whatever is actually happening. Nobody's really driving a submarine around the desert!

The 3rd example, the Ultra Panavision, is something different. I watched several episodes over again, and I think this type of shot is reserved for Farouk. We are seeing his viewpoint or hearing his voice. The Jon Hamm voiceovers? That's Farouk explaining to us what going on. Farouk's resurrection is in this Ultra Panavision, as is the wrestling match, and Lennie begging for a new body. And I think that it's also giving us a major clue to the show, From what I have watched, sometimes we see this Farouk perspective when he's not actually present (like when David visits the monastery). And the only way this could happen is if Farouk is still inside David's mind. (Which means we'd be watching Farouk's perspective on David's perspective.)

I'm not 100% certain I'm correct, but I do think this is somewhere in the neighborhood.

Edited May 11, 2018 by stock_rotation

[Bosco685]

This scene was wild. Like it was something out of Chronicle with the super-powered being finally being taken down.

The walk through a multiverse where David has travelled down different paths of his life was pretty trippy.

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

Okay. That was a mindtwist of an episode.

[fantastic_four]

So future Sid went back to recruit the Shadow King to stop David?  Lovely.

[quadman78]

Actually, future Syd went back to recruit David to save the Shadow King so he could stop David.

[01TheDude]

I get lost a lot while watching this show. It is very confusing at times. I've never read the comics

[Cocomonkey]

On 5/18/2018 at 4:17 PM, 01TheDude said:

I get lost a lot while watching this show. It is very confusing at times. I've never read the comics

I haven't seen much from the show that's actually from the comics, as far as the story goes, just his character's mental history and relation to Xavier. I just try to enjoy what I see, and assume that eventually, Jon Hamm will tell me what's going on.