I LOVE Constantine!
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skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 05:16 AM)
I was liking it a lot. That they were adapting things from Alan Moore's
Swamp Thing
run had me cringing, waiting for something to be done horribly wrong, but they managed it well.
It's not really faithful to the comics, though. Zed is completely different and her name doesn't even make much sense if she's American. Chas being American kind of kills the friends-since-boyhood aspect, but that was liveable. But the thing that still grates is that he's Con-stan-TEEN rather than Con-stan-TINE, when his correcting people on that was a staple aspect of the character.
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justahero — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 11:11 AM)
I am not overly familiar with comics so Im sorry
I think it captures the feel of them and thats what I like
and honestly I love the actress playing Zedshe is just I dont know there is something about her that I cant get enoughshes beautiful I love her accent even though I dont think its that strong but I like it
Shes very well written as well..
Constantine has the bets character writing out of all Arrowverse shows imo
Flash is right behind it -
Senor_Frickin_Braggis — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 11:35 AM)
Constantine was a really good show. I remember watching it on Friday nights after work and drinking some beers. The actor was really great too. He was like a less douchey Colin Farrel type.
Its a shame Constantine didn't get sent to CW like Supergirl did. Then again, Supergirl was CBS and CW is a sister network of theirs. I guess it could have happened if they wanted it. I mean, Scrubs got canceled by NBC and ended up on ABC for its final season. It isn't unprecedented. -
skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 10:17 PM)
Ehh, don't be sorry. The show needs to be able to stand on its own, rather than just being there for the comics fans. I just don't see the point of changing the way the character's name is pronounced, especially when it ties into so many of the stories. It throws out a lot of backstory they could have used.
I absolutely agree about the actress playing Zed. The character being entirely different rather than a new one grated at first, but she more than compensated for that.
The writing was definitely good, though to be fair, they had much stronger source material to work from than any other show going. The Alan Moore
Swamp Thing
issues they were adapting stories from are about as critically acclaimed as you can get.
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly. -
justahero — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 10:49 PM)
I dont know if some gags about pronunciation of his name really matter
But I didnt know that fyi
I REALLY REALLY like that actress and the character
Writing displayed on Constantine is pretty strong and superb compared to the rest of ArrowverseArrow is the worst drama forcing over (logical or natural) character behaviour/development Ive ever seen in a TV series
Flash is much better than Arrow in writing department but the teenage soap opera beep is still present
Maybe because Constantine really is focused more on story and his investigations than on some cheap romance
Heck even the scene in the last episode when he catches Zed kissing the guyas clich as it waswas handled simply without any dramaHe just lights up his cigarette and goes on his way cause he and her knows that would be dysfunctional relationship
It took only couple of minutes to bond with the Nun Anne-Marie (or what her name was) and I cared for hercause of the writing and the actress
The world on TV Constantine is very well developed from the first episode with detail
In these things Constantine is far superior to the rest of the Arrowverse
The writing and very strong cast
I gave a little crush on Zed though so I may be a little biased
I never saw that actress before in anything and I think she really worksand its refreshing to see actual STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER done right which is a thing Hollywood seems to not be capable of in 21st century -
skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 11:08 PM)
Well, again, the writing on
Constantine
was heavily based on existing stories.
Arrow
had that in the first season and that was working well. Sister Anne-Marie is directly from the Alan Moore stories. To be fair, the writing might've seemed to have fallen off once the stories were completely original. Still, there was a wealth of stories still to be delved into and I'd have liked to have seen it get more time.
The comics Zed was on-and-off strong (always in a power role, but being used by others at times), so I get keeping her strong for the series version. Constantine as a character pretty much only has Chas as his supporting cast, with others coming in and out.
As for the pronunciation of his name, it's more than a recurring gag. It speaks to his ancestry, both in Britain and back to Russia, with his ancestors figuring in to storylines. Changing the name throws that out the window and means those stories can't happen. But even without that, that the character goes by the name he would yell about in the comics grates. It's like Perry White asking to be called 'Chief'.
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly. -
LithMaethor — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 11:34 PM)
But the thing that still grates is that he's Con-stan-TEEN rather than Con-stan-TINE, when his correcting people on that was a staple aspect of the character.
Funny thing is that the official (correct) pronunciation of his surname, is technically the wrong one if one goes by historical roots.
But since Word of God says it's supposed to go with -TINE, they should have kept it that way.
You're suffering from delusions of adequacy.
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skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 12:00 AM)
Oy. Not sure which one you're referring to as official and correct, but in comics, the TYNE pronunciation was linked to British placenames like xxx-on-Tyne and Russian origins aligning with the long 'i' pronunciation in various stories.
Is that what you meant?
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly. -
LithMaethor — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 12:06 AM)
I was thinking more of the Greek/Byzantine name "Constantine" (or "Konstantinos" if you want to be more accurate) that was the root for the Russian version as well.
But the "official" (and thus, the correct one) pronunciation is the one given by the author, the one used in the comics.
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skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 12:41 AM)
Ah, I get you now.
The comics had the Russian name with its own origin, tying in to the mystical traditions of the lineage, without connecting to the Greek. All for story purposes, obviously.
That's of course built on based on the initial choice, but as names used to get translated and be different in each language, that plays into the alternate pronunciations. Few of us know Cristofori Columbi by his actual name rather than a translated version, after all. That historical names were different used to confuse me when I was a kid as I was schooled in both English and French. Notably, we've left that practice in the past, but the old translations are still in play. We're just getting to the point of not translating city names now, with Beijing replacing Peking and people shifting to Mumbai from Bombay.
So, yeah, I see the sense in what you're saying, but there are various linguistic paths that could be followed and play into pronunciation, even before addressing the fictional background written for this particular instance. Konstantinos would have become ConstanTYNE in some places and ConstanTEEN in others. Notably, I learned both pronounciations for the emperor of that name.
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly. -
LithMaethor — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 01:17 AM)
I generally prefer using the "native" name of something when possible. I mean, if you're first to name something, you get to set the rules about its name. It also tells you a lot more about the culture in question, whether we're talking about the western world, or some obscure tribe of 10 in a rain forest somewhere.
I can tell you with certainty, that the emperor would have used the proper (-TEEN) pronunciation. If memory serves, it also aligns with the way Latin pronunciation works. Plus it happens to be my father's name, so I'm pretty familiar with it.
For some reason, most English speaking "experts" in Ancient Greece and Rome use pronunciations that make the ears of anyone familiar with the languages (Greek and Latin, respectively) bleed. Watching documentaries was not nearly as fun as it should be, because of that jarring dissonance. Makes you wonder what else they get wrong.
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skyhawk0 — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 02:24 AM)
Absolutely agreed about 'native' names. I think that's becoming the general thrust. Of course, to overlay that on history means ignoring that history had different approaches.
It bent my brain a bit when I learned that names differed, language to language, but somehow, I didn't get a separate name in French (unlike ol' Christophe Coulombe).
Me, I have a radio background in an officially bilingual country, so pronunciation is major for me. One guy I worked with in radio (in Vancouver) later moved to Montral and became the focus of many good-hearted jokes due to his inability to pronounce all the French-based names and terms that came up. I'm guessing he got it over time.
That said, it's not so much that they got it wrong, but shifting pronunciation was how you made something part of your language. I think that partly existed to separate those higher-class types who spoke the classical languages from the plebes. That dynamic used to include the names of people and places. In a globalized world, that's falling from grace, with good reason. Can you imagine having to know the names of all the cities you do business with in all the languages of the places you do business with?
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly. -
baronofspades — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 04:03 AM)
People only care about action without any story or character development behind it. That is why the majority praises the current season of Arrow and it buried Constantine which was a good show. Nothing spectacular but a good show nonetheless.
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justahero — 9 years ago(December 25, 2016 09:00 AM)
I wasnt like amazed by anything that happened in ConstantineBUT it made me feel goodI think it had heart and you know that heart warming feeling you get when you watch something you identify with?
Sure nothing special but this was done right and if its done right thats enough for me