I've always felt holiday specials, especially Christmas themed ones that are billed as specials and not just an episode that takes place at Christmas, are not quite a part of the whole. I mean thinking of the SyFy & USA blue sky era holiday specials they never had any lasting consequences and sometimes didn't even fit into what had happened in the previous season (this is most notable for me in the Haven Christmas special where the previous season finale had Duke & Nathan fighting and a gun going off with a cliffhanger of not knowing who got shot and then it wasn't even noted in the Christmas special but was a huge part of the next season premiere). I feel this with a lot of the British holiday specials as well (though not all, see All Creatures Great & Small). So for me that's kinda how I view the MCU holiday specials
I tried watching this last night - as someone who has watched nearly every bit of MCU content (for better, for worse, and for even worse), I couldn't get past the first 25 mins.
I was shocked by how naff it was. A janky animation; an awkward song; a couple of heroes bungling around Los Angeles. A single 'generic space planet' set, and some location stuff around L.A. It just felt a bit... cheap? And underwritten? And hollow?
Perhaps I was in a bad mood. Perhaps it's just a pastiche of something so uniquely North American that it's not hitting the required nostalgia buttons. But for me - this was irredeemable crap.
As someone whose favorite MCU character is Bucky (and who has spent years wishing for nothing more than for him to interact with more of the space/magic characters instead of the Cap franchise characters), that note about Gamora gifting Rocket Bucky’s arm has made me want to watch this special. So thank you for this info! But mostly a) I wish it were a special about Bucky and Gamora and b) does he not have an arm now?!?! Poor Bucky!
Otherwise, I feel similarly about MCU. I saw every single film on opening weekend from Iron Man 1 through Endgame, but haven’t been to the theatres since then. Partly because of Covid, but more recently because the films themselves have been lackluster.
I also haven’t gotten invested in any of the TV shows — not even the ones about my most favorite characters — and have therefore given up on them. I think the issue is that, while I am delighted to watch a fast-paced action film twice a year that is aimed at children, I need TV dramas to be a little more grown-up, a little more intellectually and emotionally complicated. The Disney shows also are not very well-paced as weekly TV shows. The Star Wars shows have similar pacing and simplicity problems. I’ve cancelled my Disney+ subscription.
One thing that I especially appreciated about the two Marvel specials was how they intentionally worked to position themselves as holiday specials within the tradition of their respective holidays rather than using the time of year as dressing and telling an unrelated story.
Werewolf by Night drew upon any number of werewolf/monster hunt stories, except this one was told from the perspective of the monster. "Getting the perfect gift for a friend to help them recapture the holiday spirit" is a Christmas story classic, and in addition to hitting on all the the warm fuzzy holiday feelings that are the stock in trade of Christmas specials/movies, the Guardians special drew from The Nightmare Before Christmas as well (Drax and Mantis were basically doing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws"). Even Hawkeye, which was less a holiday special than a series set during a holiday, was still built on the bones of a "harried dad attempts to make it home for the holidays but work keeps getting in the way" story.
That effort lends those three a distinctiveness that goes beyond the setting and gets to the core of the show. It's almost like the people who wanted She-Hulk to be a pure legal comedy or Ms. Marvel to be a pure high school dramedy got their wishes with these specials.
I feel like my investment in the MCU has really started to wane. At this point they've gone through most of the characters I'm familiar with, and they're starting to work in comics that don't hold much interest for me. The last few movies just have not done it for me, Dr Strange and Thor were meh for me, I thought No Way Home covered ground that Into the Spiderverse did better, still haven't seen Black Panther because one of the BIL's said it was not much fun, so I'll wait to stream it eventually. I'm also just a bit burnt out and feel like there's not a whole lot new to cover and these movies ultimately feel kind of the same.
I finally saw the Hawkeye holiday special and enjoyed it, but it was kind of lightweight. I'll probably check out the new one at some point.
I've always felt holiday specials, especially Christmas themed ones that are billed as specials and not just an episode that takes place at Christmas, are not quite a part of the whole. I mean thinking of the SyFy & USA blue sky era holiday specials they never had any lasting consequences and sometimes didn't even fit into what had happened in the previous season (this is most notable for me in the Haven Christmas special where the previous season finale had Duke & Nathan fighting and a gun going off with a cliffhanger of not knowing who got shot and then it wasn't even noted in the Christmas special but was a huge part of the next season premiere). I feel this with a lot of the British holiday specials as well (though not all, see All Creatures Great & Small). So for me that's kinda how I view the MCU holiday specials
I tried watching this last night - as someone who has watched nearly every bit of MCU content (for better, for worse, and for even worse), I couldn't get past the first 25 mins.
I was shocked by how naff it was. A janky animation; an awkward song; a couple of heroes bungling around Los Angeles. A single 'generic space planet' set, and some location stuff around L.A. It just felt a bit... cheap? And underwritten? And hollow?
Perhaps I was in a bad mood. Perhaps it's just a pastiche of something so uniquely North American that it's not hitting the required nostalgia buttons. But for me - this was irredeemable crap.
As someone whose favorite MCU character is Bucky (and who has spent years wishing for nothing more than for him to interact with more of the space/magic characters instead of the Cap franchise characters), that note about Gamora gifting Rocket Bucky’s arm has made me want to watch this special. So thank you for this info! But mostly a) I wish it were a special about Bucky and Gamora and b) does he not have an arm now?!?! Poor Bucky!
Otherwise, I feel similarly about MCU. I saw every single film on opening weekend from Iron Man 1 through Endgame, but haven’t been to the theatres since then. Partly because of Covid, but more recently because the films themselves have been lackluster.
I also haven’t gotten invested in any of the TV shows — not even the ones about my most favorite characters — and have therefore given up on them. I think the issue is that, while I am delighted to watch a fast-paced action film twice a year that is aimed at children, I need TV dramas to be a little more grown-up, a little more intellectually and emotionally complicated. The Disney shows also are not very well-paced as weekly TV shows. The Star Wars shows have similar pacing and simplicity problems. I’ve cancelled my Disney+ subscription.
One thing that I especially appreciated about the two Marvel specials was how they intentionally worked to position themselves as holiday specials within the tradition of their respective holidays rather than using the time of year as dressing and telling an unrelated story.
Werewolf by Night drew upon any number of werewolf/monster hunt stories, except this one was told from the perspective of the monster. "Getting the perfect gift for a friend to help them recapture the holiday spirit" is a Christmas story classic, and in addition to hitting on all the the warm fuzzy holiday feelings that are the stock in trade of Christmas specials/movies, the Guardians special drew from The Nightmare Before Christmas as well (Drax and Mantis were basically doing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws"). Even Hawkeye, which was less a holiday special than a series set during a holiday, was still built on the bones of a "harried dad attempts to make it home for the holidays but work keeps getting in the way" story.
That effort lends those three a distinctiveness that goes beyond the setting and gets to the core of the show. It's almost like the people who wanted She-Hulk to be a pure legal comedy or Ms. Marvel to be a pure high school dramedy got their wishes with these specials.
I feel like my investment in the MCU has really started to wane. At this point they've gone through most of the characters I'm familiar with, and they're starting to work in comics that don't hold much interest for me. The last few movies just have not done it for me, Dr Strange and Thor were meh for me, I thought No Way Home covered ground that Into the Spiderverse did better, still haven't seen Black Panther because one of the BIL's said it was not much fun, so I'll wait to stream it eventually. I'm also just a bit burnt out and feel like there's not a whole lot new to cover and these movies ultimately feel kind of the same.
I finally saw the Hawkeye holiday special and enjoyed it, but it was kind of lightweight. I'll probably check out the new one at some point.