jon87-1 Reviews

Lockie Leonard (2007–2010)

fantastic show for everyone

[10/10 · 16 May 2008]

for some odd reason this show seems to have attracted a very low score on IMDb...perhaps it reflects a generation raised on garbage television such as big brother.

As a 20 year old, I am hardly in the key demographic for this show...yet, having purchased and watched the DVD boxed set, I find it charming... it is quite possibly the best Australian made show in years, it's a remarkably well acted dramedy focusing on a year in the life of thirteen year old lockie Leonard, and his family, in what could best be described as a coming of age series in the vein of 'the wonder years', 'degrassi' and 'freaks and geeks' though not quite reaching the heights of that latter masterpiece. It also, thankfully, lacks the 'life lesson of the week' feel that degrassi, though also an entertaining show, often can't quite conceal.

the scripts are consistently funny, and entertaining, and the production values are solid... It is an appalling tragedy that this series only lasted one season, though from all I've been able to discover, it was never intended to run longer...so it's not an issue of cancellation.

I'm not going to delve to deeply into plot points, since this show deserves to be watched with no prior spoilers... but it suffices to say that this is a quirky dramatic comedy which doesn't dumb itself down for it's intended younger audience and isn't afraid to tackle difficult issues, thus making it an entertaining viewing experience for all ages.

Animorphs (1998–2000)

awful

[4 June 2005]

The animorphs series of books was truly excellent. It was my primary source of reading material for five years. One afternoon, however, having seen an ad in one of the books for an animorphs television series, I sat down to watch what is quite possibly the greatest abomination in the entire realm of book to screen conversions. What would have been ideal was a series that stuck directly to the books, with one hour episodes. The books are short enough that each one could be covered in one or two episodes. Movies such as stand by me are an excellent example of how a story can be converted almost verbatim into a script. even a cartoon could have done the job well.Instead, we have a truly disgraceful effort.

The actors selected to represent the animorphs are FAR too old. the animorphs were 13 years old at the beginning of the novels, and yet adults were chosen to play them. 13 or 14 year olds would have been much better.

Furthermore, the plot bears little resemblance to the books, even going so far as to change fundamental elements. What on earth was this stupid 'disk' they were running around with on the first few episodes? All in all, very poorly done. 1/10