#My Review of the finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2.

[jonberry555]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 REVIEW

My Review of the finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2.

"STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series features fan favorites Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy."

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, April 20th

Wesley: *What* are you doing!?! This book is twelve centuries old! Harmony: Okay. So it's not like I messed up a new one.

~~Disharmony~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Do You Want to Play a Game? by NotASlayer (Anya & Dawn, T)

Freedom by Enigmatist (Angel, not rated)

[Text chat between Buffybot and Anya] by scooby-group-texts (not rated)

Angel kisses Cordy back in Parting Gifts and it changes everything by vampandvisiongirl (not rated)

[Chaptered Fiction]

With Arms Wide Open, Chapter 32 by jaybird023 (Buffy/Giles, E)

Thirty-ish Days (and Thirty-ish Years), Chapter 27 by Dynapink (Buffy/Giles, T)

A Reincarnation in Sunnydale, Chapter 37 by DracoRim98 (Buffy/Angel, M)

Gemini, Chapter 6 by BuildMeUpButtercup_x (Buffy/Angel, M)

Wish Granted, Chapter 8 by faewm (Anyanka, Harry Potter crossover, T)

An odd Couple of grumpy old Brits, Chapter 13 by julikobold (Giles & Spike, T)

Rebehold the Stars (Love from the Other Side of the Apocalypse), Chapter 13 by asokatanos (Emryslin) (Buffy/Spike, T)

Raven, Chapter 12 by sparrow2000 (Xander & Spike, G)

Greatest Love Story Postlude, Chapter 14 by FalseGinger (Angel/Spike, M)

With Sprinkles, Chapter 40 by dogbertcarroll, Narsil (Xander, multiple crossovers, M)

The Stars to Hold Our Destiny, Chapter 12 by Hermione2be (Buffy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover, G)

You’re my always, Chapter 5 (complete!) by ronanceisrxmance (Willow/Tara, T)

Object of Affection, Chapter 2 by felixsfishnets (Xander/Spike, E)

Highlands and Tropical Islands, Chapter 2 by QuillBard (Buffy/Faith, M)

The Scoobies and The Party, Chapter 2 by StrangerThings_Writer011 (Scoobies, Stranger Things crossover, G)

She's in Parties, Chapter 1 by betweenfactandbreakfast (Spike/Drusilla, E)

Surviving Together, Chapter 18 by ionlylikebadboys (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Love Lives Here, Chapter 51 by Passion4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Meow, Chapter 5 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Afterburn: In The Dark, Chapter 2 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

What Love Looks Like, Chapter 2 by DeamonQueen (Buffy/Spike, R)

Going Astral, Chapter 1 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, R)

Out For A Walk... Bitch, Chapters 14-15 by MaggieLaFey (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Early One Morning, Chapter 34 by all choseny (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Lie to Me, Chapter 24 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Cradle of Love, Chapters 2-3 by Lilacsandorangeblossoms (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Buffy ensemble, Buffy & Angel by Hippano (worksafe)

Artwork: Dusk Summers by isevery0nehereverystoned (worksafe)

Artwork: Same robin and nikki doodles by aa-arttss (worksafe)

Artwork: Buffy by deathoftheartist (worksafe)

Comic: Willow vs Ulquiorra Page 4 written by MattanzaMFedora & illustrated by RichCass on DeviantArt by MattanzaMafiaFedora (worksafe)

Fanvid: Cordelia&Angel | The 1 by 1SnoWhiteQueen1

Fanvid: Faith & Angel || Slayer and Vampire [Bring me back to life] by Charmed 567

Fanvid: Giles/Buffy - When you find me by Kiss The Librarian

Fanvid: I Wanna Be Your Slave | Buffy & Spike by Werepaca

[Reviews & Recaps]

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 Review! (Spoilers!) by SundayScariesReview

Video: Doublemeat Palace-Slayer Sunday by Jane Talks Buffy

Podcast: Episode 26: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Discussion Part 1 by Friends Talking Nerdy

Podcast: Help S7 E4 Buffy and the Art of Story Podcast by Lisa M. Lilly

Podcast: Language in Buffy the Vampire Slayer by A Girl, A Guy and A Buffy Podcast

[Recs]

Vid rec: Final Hour (tribute video) [old version/2011] by Narvinek recced by I_want_to_believe_99

[Fandom Discussions]

Season 5 literally could have given us insane lilah and wesley divorce by all-seeing-ifer

Buffy Summers for the character asks by laufire

Angel btvs for the character ask game by laufire

Character breakdown: Cordelia Chase by nicnacsnonsense

the scene where Faith in Buffy’s body seduces and has sex with Riley by nicnacsnonsense

They have Cassie tell the audience/Spike that Buffy will tell him she loves him by raisedbythetv89

The First's Plan by NoShip

Rewatch thoughts and questions continued by multiple posters

Why Giles wants Spike dead continued by multiple posters

Spike and the first continued by multiple posters

What is something you dislike about your favorite character? by The Whirlwind

How would you 'fix' Angelus on Angel? by ethihoff

What was the original plan for [AtS] Season 4? by CuriousHedgehog636

Why are they still SINGING??? by Syn_33

How come Superstar be better rated than Beer Bad? by lua121

Lindsey and Faith parallel by IntelligentPumpkin74

Xander and his need for a woman by Iluthradanar

[1/22] What's your favorite episode 1 across all seasons? by jonaskoelker

Watching Buffy for the first time - what makes the slayer special? by UltimateEel

Are slayers genetic?? by Grocery-Full

Rewatching as an adult [Giles in OMWF] by MiniKb

This Year's Girl - Why did Buffy come crushing through the window? by brwitch

If you could skip only ONE episode per whole rewatch, which one would it be and why? by DistributionRight620

what are answers from Buffy [things in canon you pretend are not] by Independent-Rise2480

What are some of the worst line-reads in the series? by To55ursalad

Man I really miss Doyle, I wonder how different the show would've been if he had still stayed on for it by AxelNoir

Things you noticed upon rewatch that you missed before (non-verbal only) by dragonsrawesomesauce

Video: Why Did Joyce Have To Get A Brain Tumor In Season 5 Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer? by CrasHNburN

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

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[calliethetrekkie]

Star Trek TOS S01EP15-16: The Menagerie

I decided to review both parts in the same review. It's the same story, so I'd rather be able to go over it all at once. Plus at least half of it when put together is footage from the first pilot, The Cage. I also want to note that, at the time of writing, I have NOT watched Strange New Worlds yet, so I won't be mentioning/considering anything from it or its portrayal of Pike and crew for this review. Anyway, that should do it for window dressing, let us get underway.

Original Thoughts

I'm not even going to try and copy/paste and re-edit both of them to add onto here. This is going to be long enough. You can read my old watchthrough here, but the short version is I liked Part 1, didn't like Part 2 as much, and overall I liked it for the Spock content but it was meh otherwise.

Rewatch Thoughts

God, this took me way too long to get done...

So this episode is the first and only two-parter in TOS. We wouldn't get another one in Star Trek until TNG. One thing kind of weird about this episode is that it's more or less Spock on court martial... after we'd just done a court martial episode for Kirk. When I watched these in the airing order, I think one reason I didn't care for Court Martial is because it felt like we'd 'been there, done that' with The Menagerie, a feeling that didn't repeat in production order which let me enjoy that episode a lot more.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to organize this. How much I wanted to go into regarding both the actual episode and The Cage footage. It's part of why this review took so long. So after thinking it over... there's not much about the pilot footage that I have to say. It's there to give context for why Spock is doing what he's doing and that's really it. I think I'd rather wait to talk about Pike and maybe the pilot itself in-depth after I've seen SNW, which from what I've heard, adds some additional context. But I'm not there yet, so all I'll say is that the pilot footage really made things drag on what would have otherwise been Court Martial: Spock Edition otherwise hey ST people, if you ever do TOS again, give us the McCoy court martial episode please.

The most I have to say about the pilot footage is that it made the episode a chore to sit through. It's not bad, it's even kind of fun to see the early stuff and cast like Pike, Una, and a younger Spock. Seriously look at Spock's reaction when he and Pike look at the alien plants, its adorable! But it goes on for so long, especially in Part 2, that I lost complete interest in paying attention until it went back to the court martial. At that point we just want to know why Spock chose Talos IV to go to, not to watch an episode within an episode. I know they did it most likely as a cost-saving maneuver, but that doesn't change the fact that it just drags when they could have just... you know, had Spock explaining himself or whatever. It's the only reason that this is a two-parter at all. Again, I get it, but I kept tuning out during those scenes until we finally got to the end of it and we finally understood Spock's plan.

The present-day parts, however, were very much able to keep my attention. We're here at about the mid-way point of the first season, and to say that Spock's actions are a shock is putting it lightly. Spock has been nothing but loyal and by the book the whole series. Just last episode, he defended Kirk despite the evidence to the contrary and did everything possible to find the evidence to clear his name. We already questioned his loyalty in Balance of Terror, but the vast majority of the cast never questioned it, and any possible doubt was brought to a close at the end of it. But in fairness, this is very much a different dilemma as it concerns his former captain. One that he'd been as loyal to as he is to Kirk now. It brings a very unique problem for our favorite Vulcan.

Personally, I find Spock's whole plan... well, convoluted as Hell. I know it's to justify using the pilot footage, and it does add stuff to make it make some sense like Talos IV being forbidden to all ships. But it still feels ridiculous that Spock had to go to these extreme lengths to take Pike to Talos. Honestly, I'm iffy about having Pike taking to Talos at all. I mean... it's just an illusion. He's pretty much been put in a guided cage where he can pretend that he's still physically well, even though that's very much not the case. I guess it's better than his fate of being confined to that chair and only able to blink a light to communicate. But... I don't know, I keep thinking about it and I just don't like it. It feels messed up. But I guess Spock felt that it was the best place for Pike, where he could at least have some kind of happiness.

That said, it says a lot about Spock. The man put absolutely everything on the line just to help his former captain. He outright said at the start that he knew that it was mutiny and that he would be facing the death penalty if caught. But he doesn't care what becomes of him. All that matters is completing the task and getting Pike to Talos IV. Even regarding Kirk, he clearly didn't like going against his back and was not at all happy that his actions inadvertently convicted Kirk as well. Something that I believe that he wanted to avoid... unfortunately for him, Kirk doesn't take having his ship/command taken over from him well no matter who does it or why. Whoops. But still, for all the 'unfeeling, logical Vulcan' bravado, he sure as Hell had no problem dropping all of that here.

Kirk is angry and upset that his First Officer and friend would do this. As I said, he hates it when anyone threatens or endangers his command. Especially at this point in the series. We saw him get mad when Spock pried into him in The Conscience of the King, but this is even worse. As soon as he's back on the Enterprise, he hates it because it means court martialing Spock, which he doesn't want to do. He's willing to give Spock the chance to clear up everything, but he's also angry that Spock is holding things back from him and even lied to him. The last scene of Part 1 is him having Spock thrown in the brig because he won't just tell him why he's done what he's done. I don't even think that he cares too much about his own possible fate. He's certainly unhappy about it, but moreso about Spock because he can't make sense of it and Spock won't talk, only pleading guilty to everything. Why? Why won't his First Officer talk to him? Why go through all of this behind his back? Why allow himself to risk death? He doesn't know, and he can't stand it but can do nothing about it. He can do nothing but let the answer reveal itself, everything out of his control. Sure once it all comes together he's glad and clearly forgives Spock, but I'd imagine that he had a loooot to say when they had that talk later.

McCoy is really only relevant in Part 1, but what he got was so freakin' good. Spock fabricating orders is just impossible in his mind. He is steadfast in his belief that Spock would never lie or deceive them. Sure he ended up being wrong, and about why (Vulcans not being able to lie is the biggest lie in this whole show) but the fact that he doesn't doubt Spock at all and is the one to tell Jim this when he's questioning as he did in The Conscience of the King is so freakin' good. When he realizes that Spock did commit mutiny? And when Spock tells him to have him arrested? You can tell that he doesn't want to do it, let alone believe it. It really sucks that McCoy has no part after that because I can only imagine how much he would have had to say and try to make sense of, especially with also reasoning it with Kirk. But for what we did get, it's good stuff. And especially after The Galileo Seven, it's good to see that McCoy is still loyal to Spock and believes in him despite all the tension in that episode (and even after Court Martial where he got mad at Spock for seeming to not care about the situation, even though it was brief).

Aside from that... I really don't have a lot to say. The episode is okay. Really, everything in the first half of Part One I really enjoyed. It was tense and made me want to keep watching just to make sense of it all. It's when the pilot footage starts that things begin to bog down. Part Two is even more guilty of this until around the last few minutes, and like I said I'm pretty uncomfortable with the ending. It does a lot for Spock's character, adding more depth and showcasing his loyalty to both his old captain and his current one, as well as some nice bits for Kirk and McCoy. Heck, even bits like Uhura being in disbelief by all of this are really good. The episode's weakness is just going for far too long when this could have all been resolved in a few minutes and feels contrived to begin with. I'd still pick this episode over ones like Mudd's Women and the vast majority of Miri, but like with Miri I'd only want to watch it for certain parts (though unlike Miri it's because I'm bored, not squicked out). It's fine, and that's all I've got left to say about it.

Original Ratings: 4/5 (P1), 3/5 (P2), 3.5/5 (Both) Rewatch Ratings: 7/10 (P1), 5/10 (P2), 6/10 (Both)

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - Short Treks S2

Originally posted on Twitter 15 October 2020 - 16 October 2020

Star Trek: Short Treks Season 2 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, and STX Season 1, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Q&A: Chabon’s one-room, one-act, two-actor play is a wonderful tease for the coming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series. Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck are pitch-perfect in their roles as Number One and Spock. Great continuity having Samora Smallwood’s Amin make an appearance. 9/10

The Trouble with Edward: The weakest of the Short Treks. Mean-spirited in parts, but it hints at something explored with Star Trek: Lower Decks’s Ens. Fletcher: not everyone is cut out for Starfleet. Johnny Appleseed and the tribble vacuum/cereal ad are highlights. 6/10

Ask Not: A deeeeep cut callback to Star Trek: The Next Generation gives Amrit Kaur the spotlight to shine as Pike’s jailer. Her beaming smile at the wonders of the Enterprise and the career ahead of her is inspiring. 8/10

Ephraim and Dot: a zany Looney Tunes homage and love letter to Star Trek: The Original Series and the original 1701, this is a home run in every department. 10/10

The Girl Who Made the Stars: The story told in Burnham’s DSC S2 opening monologue is gorgeously brought to life. This is the kind of representation Star Trek excels at, and needs more of. 10/10

Children of Mars: A haunting prelude to Star Trek: Picard. Kima and Lil are every child affected by horrific tragedy, which makes the futuristic setting surprisingly timeless. 10/10

And with that, Season 2 of STX comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 8.83/10. Highest score(s): “Ephraim and Dot,” “The Girl Who Made the Stars,” “Children of Mars.” Lowest score(s): “The Trouble with Edward.”

STX overall score across 2 seasons and 10 episodes: 8.67/10

[critical-chris]

65 (2023)

Holy shit, I demand a documentary of how this movie was made.

Good 'noon everyone, nice to talk to you again. I took a week long break from the blog due to a few factors including long hours at work, a random and inexplicable desire to start watching Succession for the first time ahead of the upcoming new season, and most importantly a complete and total lack of movies coming out that I had interest in.

There was one exception, Cocaine Bear, which I still do want to see. However, every time I had a reservation with my AMC membership and the time would come to leave the house and head to the theater, the lackluster reviews would crawl into my brain and I couldn't justify the 2 hour trek outside. I would crawl back in bed and dive into an episode of The Mandalorian, 1923, The Boys, or piecemealing the slog of a movie I find The Aviator to be. Lots of TV, not so many movies, but I'm back with a vengeance, baby.

Let's kick things off with why I wanted to see this movie in the first place. Have you seen the trailer? Exactly. The trailer sells you on a futuristic soldier played by Adam Driver finding himself stranded on a strange world that turns out to be Earth, 65 million years ago. This badass is strapped up with crazy weapons and about to fight some dinosaurs for survival. I'm all the way in.

I love science fiction movies when the creators that be get them right. Star Wars is my clear cut favorite sci-fi franchise, although Disney (not including Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni) has done whatever they can to create more shit properties under the umbrella than good ones. I love a good one-off sci-fi movie too, the most recent hit for me being Dune, what I felt to be a great epic adaptation of the book. Can't wait for that sequel and the talking baby, which better be in the film.

I love Adam Driver, too. I was not one of the early watchers of Girls (or a watcher at all, frankly), so my first introduction to him was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the only film from the trilogy I loved and have since dampened my feelings on. I like him in the movies, despite my major beefs and issues with the plotting and directing, and continued to be excited by his more traditional dramatic work.

If you need some fantastic recommendations, check out my favorite Spike Lee joint BlacKkKlansman, a great paced marital drama Marriage Story, a creative crime dramedy Logan Lucky, and the period piece The Last Duel. A lot of people liked House of Gucci, and I thought it was decent although I'm not sure why Driver is now being tapped as Hollywood's "It Guy" for biographic films of Italian businessman with him portraying Enzo Ferrari next. With all of these great movies in his back pocket, I was sure that Adam Driver could not lose and would be coming in with another banger with replay value out the buttocks. I have to use clean language at some point in this blog for how explicit I am in my feelings on finally seeing 65.

When I saw that this movie came out to just over 90 minutes, I got that old fashioned bad feeling in my gut that maybe I was in for some trouble instead of some good dino-fighting. It's not very typical you get a slapstick comedy runtime out of an expensive science fiction film, and when you do it's a sign that perhaps there were some big problems with the longer cut and someone had to make a watchable storyline out of the scraps. And boy, does this movie feel exactly like that.

I have problems with almost every part of this disaster, so why not tick them off chronologically. 65 opens with some film school level text on screen letting the cat out of the bag right away. It explains that before mankind existed on Earth, there were other beings in other galaxies traveling the universe. Then we go to Planet Who Cares where Adam Driver is sitting on a beach with his wife and child. They quickly and briefly mention the daughter is suffering from some unknown illness and Driver must go on a 2-year journey to get paid enough to "cure her". LMAO CURE HER? Like the pharmaceutical company is withholding life-saving medicine because you can't afford it? Actually.... I guess that is realistic. Anyways, he teaches her to whistle with her hands and they showcase absolutely 0 familial chemistry that you care nothing about.

Smash cut immediately to Driver on a spaceship carrying a dozen or so passengers who are in cryo-sleep pods. The ship is suddenly hit by an asteroid, Driver attempts to control it, but they crash through the atmosphere of a strange planet and all of the cryo-pods get sucked out of the ship and are presumed dead. Adam Driver stumbles out of the ship, wades his way through some mud (where a creature lurks around him but then just never does anything so you wonder why even show there being a creature in the mud??), and discovers the bodies of the passengers who were tossed out of their cryo-pods.

Adam Driver stumbles back onto the ship and records a message asking for someone to come and rescue them, but deletes it before sending and re-records the message. In the second message, he tells anyone listening to abandon them and not to send a rescue ship because he's going to kill himself..... Why would he do that? We know his entire goal is to get back to his daughter, why would he not just ask for help and see if someone actually comes? Anyways, he decides not to kill himself, AND THEN THE TITLE CARD FOR THE MOVIE COMES UP. AT 20 MINUTES IN, THE TITLE OF THE MOVIE COMES UP AND READS:

65

Million Years Ago

A Visitor Came To

Earth

..... Seriously. All of that text comes on screen for the title card. Pardon my Portuguese, but what the fuck.

Driver is moping around when he sees an alert come up in his ship that one of the cryo-pods was not damaged and the girl inside survived, played by Ariana Greenblatt. He drags her out of the pod and while she rests he ventures out to a geyser field which is clearly included as foreshadowing for later in the film. He realizes that far away one of the escape pods from the ship also survived the crash and is a viable means of escape.

I felt the plot device included in this film of the girl speaking a different language than Adam Driver was unnecessary and forced. Besides the quick minute they spend in the final act of the girl being upset with Driver for lying about her parents being alive, there really is no reason for them not to be able to communicate. They try to force a couple laughs from their misunderstanding, but come across as generic and recycled gags. The part where Driver smushes a bug, and playfully chases the girl with his gooky hand is embarrassing.

Then there are the actual dinosaurs, which don't get incorporated until about 45 minutes in. The first dino the duo comes across is a baby stuck in a little tar pit, which is immediately killed by whatever those miniature predators from the opening of Lost World are, an attempt at a gut-wrenching moment that I found eye-rolling and stupid.

The other main predators featured are lizards mixed with raptors? They sulk low to the ground with their tails raised high and chase our protagonists around the trees and a beach, quickly dispatched by Adam Driver's futuristic assault rifle and grenades. There is a moment where one lizard seems to have gotten hold of Ariana, but Driver saves the day right at the last moment as is typical in every movie ever ever ever.

There were two scenes in the movie that I actually found entertaining and twinkled with potential of what this movie could have been. The first occurs after Driver and Ariana are driven into a cave by a modified T-Rex, and Ariana is able to crawl out of the cave before a cave-in traps Driver. He shimmies around in the dark and is stalked by an unseen dino, which creates some good tension and anticipation for when the creature finally emerges. The dino doesn't end up being scary or that menacing, but the lead up was decent enough.

The other part I enjoyed were the T-Rex's. I found the final minutes of the two T-Rex's trying to finish off Adam Driver and Ariana's ship with them inside, and even the moment where the last T-Rex chases Driver into the geyser field only to be stabbed and scalded to death very well done. The whole movie should have been scenes like this showing danger instead of pretending the main two characters have any chemistry or relationship worth watching.

All in all, this is a derivative sci-fi "thriller" reliant on jump scares, overused tropes, and it's budget for making dinosaurs seem sort of real. I would never, will never, and can never recommend anyone spend even the short 90 minutes to watch this movie. If you're suffering pure boredom I would recommend sitting on a porch and imagining dinosaurs in your front yard instead of sitting through this. In today's world, there is always something better to watch somewhere else instead of 65.

I do have one conspiracy theory related to this movie that I think holds weight. I read an article online that mentioned this film had a budget of $95 million, and after witnessing what I did play out on the screen, I have to assume a majority of that went to Adam Driver. Otherwise, why would he put his name at the top of the cast list for this pile of dinosaur shit? I'll take it one further, how much do I think he got paid out of the total budget? Wait for it, $65 million. Following that logic, I have to assume he asked that the name of the movie then represent how much it takes to get a big name actor to star in a film that is destined to fail and ensure its director never works again.

In conclusion, THIS MOVIE SUCKS.

65 - 2.0/10

[ashleywritesstuff]

My last review for season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now up on @fangirlishsite. Take a look at my review of episode 2x10 "Hegemony."

[fiadorable]

46 Great Things in Strange New Worlds (S1E01)

I decided to write down all the things I loved from each episode of Strange New World's first season.

Strange New Worlds | Children of the Comet | Ghosts of Illyria Part 1 & Part 2 | Memento Mori | Spock Amok | Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach | Serene Squall | The Elysian Kingdom | All Those Who Wander | A Quality of Mercy

Pilot episode things to love include:

Seeing first contact with the Federation from the POV of an alien species with Una's log overlaying the opening

Star Trek tradition of character being in love with really old American television/movies continues, this time with The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Pike's pancakes look divine - and the gentle way he spatulas them onto the plate! This is a person who is skilled and takes great care with delicate things.

I oddly love Pike referring to Batel as "Captain Batel" during breakfast and have this headcanon that he does so while she's in uniform to kind of draw the line between the personal and professional relationship they have

But also like shame on her for saying the pancakes were good BUT STILL LEAVING MOST OF IT ON HER PLATE

Calling the communicator a phone is weird - but I appreciate the effort they are making to bridge the way life imitated art and gave us cell phones before warp drives

Loving the way they are showing the relationship between Batel and Pike here, the friend/coworkers with benefits, call me when you get back in town but with no expectations thing - it feels realistic given their careers

Good god I love the music in this series please give me a soundtrack

What an absolutely gorgeous theme song and title sequence. It feels very Lower Decks visually, but definitely pays homage to the TOS sequence.

Say what you want, but I love seeing playful Vulcans. Tuvok had some excellent lines on Voyager, but seeing T'Pring and Spock dance around the engagement question is delightful.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to do that somewhere else." 😂😂😂

"Matrimony and duty. The two will complement each other." "I remain skeptical." As you should, girl, as you should

Oo, I do like the communicator plugging into a video display though. Nice blend of the 60s tech with modern tech.

Pike reviewing La'an's file and the Gorn report on the way to the Enterprise. Weird thing to like, I know, but this comes up later in my list.

I love that Enterprise is a learning ship and the cadets rotate through the departments

Pike has a goddamn fireplace in his quarters. He has a kitchen.

I love Pike's conversation with Spock on the way to Kiley 279, questioning how the knowledge of his accident will live in him and direct his actions in the years leading up to it - and the season finale answers that question which makes for a nice narrative circle shaped thing

Bridge troubleshooting sessions are the best

I love Nurse Chapel - she is the manic pixie dream girl of the show while still being extremely competent - and I love her introductory exchange with La'an and how Pike is just sitting back and watching them circle each other

"Well there's surviving and then there's living." I like that he left the decision to take the sedative up to La'an (and now knowing her backstory it makes sense but the first time I saw this episode I was like goddamn girl)

Obligatory "history of the United States" reference

Also loving the rivalry between Spock and La'an down on the planet… new coworkers are hard

Delta Scorpii Seven

"Always when I'm in the captain's chair" - This whole exchange is when I knew Ortegas was gonna be one of my favs

I love that Uhura is the one who is able to settle the rabbit - bonding through sports is the fastest way to get your alien captive to relax

The flirtatious lady in the elevator who sees Spock morphing while Pike pretends he has no idea what she's freaking out about - this man is a complete awkward dork around women how the hell did he get Batel into bed 😂(

"Somehow I figured you might" 😍 I don't ship them I don't ship them

"Can you not jinx it?" More of Una and Spock, please, I beg of you

Also the way Pike is holding her 😍 GODDAMMIT I DO NOT SHIP THEM

Spock screaming as his genome reverted was intense and I like it because it means my girl La'an is a fucking BEAST because she went through all of that without a sound on the ship which is horrifying

Shades of Janeway and the Caretaker's array in Pike's decision to interfere despite General Order 1 because without their original unintended interference there would be no secondary interference necessary - it's a parallel I am comfortable with

La'an calling Spock "the science officer" 😂

What a power move bringing Enterprise into lower orbit and I love the air raid sirens on Kiley that go off as it descends

"The true cost of a civil war is abstract"

"Right up until the very end life is to be worn gloriously"

Ok, ok, we get it, this is the bad place 🙃

The Kiley montage is weird like what is even happening in it are they worshiping the Enterprise at the end there with their paper doll cutout of it?? Aliens.

Renaming General Order One the Prime Directive

I like Admiral April - he is a solid dude

Pike knowing exactly what La'an is about at the end of the episode is the best. He's read her file, he knows all of this already, but he's letting her come to him and tell him in her own words and that's great.

"Other people are challenging for me." me too girl me too

Ugh this musiiiiiic 🥰

I just like watching this crew doing their jobs. The set is pretty, the people are pretty, the dialogue is crisp.

We are all Uhura saying "Cool!" on the bridge

Pike's almost knee-high boots

Ending credit music!

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Brother’ Review

"Space: The Final Frontier. Above us, around us, within us. We have always looked to the stars to discover who we are."

By nature I love brevity: Star Trek: Discovery takes a long, clean breath of fresh air in this big, bold premiere that sheds the burdens of Season One and lets them roll down the hill behind.

Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. And in the Fall of that year, as shows premiered, fans were faced with a sad reality: for the first time in 28 years, a new season of Star Trek was not among them. And for 12 years, this continued. And then we Discovered a new frontier. Breaking the silence of more than a decade, Star Trek: Discovery was a sign that Trek was not dead.

But of course, it was not without its flaws. Discovery Season One had issues with its tone and its dialogue. The crew, above and beyond their stilted, grandiose speech, rarely seemed like a family, or even a group of people who like each other. And the levels of anxiety and brooding were at dangerously high levels. We're talking Superman from Batman v. Superman levels of anxiety and brooding.

The fans pointed out these issues, though the good parts still remained (excepting the 'fans' who actively went out of their way to be openly hostile towards the series, its creators, and its viewers). And the team behind Discovery listened. 'Brother' benefits from a light and relaxed tone that feels like the lifting of a heavy curtain. The crew speaks in a generally human and natural manner, and they work together like a tight family. Brooding is nowhere to be seen, and the anxiety present is of a different sort than the cloud of deep worry that permeated Season One. Instead the viewer felt more of an empathetic concern about the characters and their lives.

The first and most immediate effect of 'Brother' is, in fact, to distance the show from its past mistakes. Associating these issues with the influence of Captain Lorca makes a lot of sense from a story perspective, even if the creators' insistence that all the darker elements were only a result of him doesn't quite sit right. From the outset, Captain Pike makes it clear that he is very different from Lorca. Everything about his manner and bearing suggests a completely different man from Jason Isaacs' power-hungry warmonger. But Pike is no Kirk, either, as one might anticipate. Anson Mount gives his Pike a humility and a grounded feel that Kirk never quite developed.

The other proverbial elephant on the starship is the presence of Spock. Though the adult version of our beloved half-Vulcan does not appear, his importance in the events of 'Brother' and the impact the mere allusion to the character has on the series is clear. We learn that he and Burnham's strained relationship is the result of her decisions, not his. It's clear she views him and his legacy as an oppressive force in her life, perhaps as a standard she could never live up to? There's a great shot that really sums this up, when young Spock makes his holo-dragon. The dragon moves toward Burnham, and roars at her, and Spock walks in through its mouth. I think that's how she sees Spock.

Sarek and Burnham's conversation about reverence also factors in. This show has decided to include a character that most fans undoubtedly have a lot of reverence for. But to make him a useful character, with an arc and a purpose, reverence is not enough. The massive weight of Spock's impact on Star Trek and the fans' adoration of him will be a problem that Discovery will have to deal with.

Moving to our regular cast, I loved how they were dealt with here. The other side of Lorca's effect on the Disco crew is that such a major and personal adversary has brought them together and made them rely on each other. All of the returning cast felt like a family around each other, and their interactions made the ship feel like a real workplace run by a real team. This is a major improvement from last season.

It looks like Burnham's journey this season will be thoroughly intertwined with Spock's. I look forward to seeing her relationship with him and how it develops, but I do hope they give her a role to play apart from and outside of the shadow of her foster brother. Likewise, Stamets seems overshadowed by the impact of someone else. Everything around him reminds him of his lost love Dr. Culber, and he's having a very hard time dealing with it. It seems like the end of this episode was enough to get him at least a little bit excited about science again, though it's unlikely that this is the end of his plotline about leaving the ship. With Wilson Cruz brought on as a full cast member for this season, it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Tilly and Saru don't seem to have much in the way of an arc yet, but I'm sure this will change. I expect most of Tilly's story this season will have something to do with her enrollment in the Command Training Program. Saru mentioned his sister Siranna, from the Short Trek 'The Brightest Star,' and the showrunners have stated that we may see other Kelpians this season, so expect to see a visit to Saru's home planet of Kaminar sometime in the future. Maybe siblings will continue to be a theme this season.

Overall, 'Brother' was a pretty epic way to kick off the new season. It's fun and engaging, with a lot of potential. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Strange New Worlds:

This section will record the planets the Disco visits and the places they go. Not a whole lot of that in this particular episode.

New Life and New Civilizations:

Here I'll keep track of all the new species, ideas, and cultures the crew encounters. Again, nothing in the way of that here.

Pensees (Thoughts):

-Mia Kirshner (Amanda) looks a lot like Amy Adams. She also really resembles Amanda from TOS, so that's nice.

-Stamets has a botanist friend aboard the Enterprise.

-In keeping with the Trek tradition of altering the intro, we have some brand new graphics added to the opening theme.

-Regulation 19, Section C allows a higher-ranking officer to take command of a starship in one of three contingencies: 1. An imminent threat; 2. The lives of Federation citizens are in danger; 3. There is no more qualified officer available to deal with the situation.

-I love Doug Jones' Saru walk. It's just so much fun to watch.

-That's the first shot we've gotten of a turbo lift running through a starship in all of Trek, if memory serves. Pretty cool, too.

-Another Alice in Wonderland nod. Also, holo-candles.

-Sarek mentioned that he's reached out to Klingon High Chancellor L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), and she had no explanation for the red bursts either.

-The Captain goes on the away mission, in true Trek tradition.

-There was a bit of Spock's Jellyfish ship from Star Trek (2009) in the design of the pods they flew.

-How cool was the pod sequence? Also, it was admittedly rather satisfying to see Olson Connelly get his comeuppance when he failed to pull his chute crashed and died because of the dumb risk he took.

-One of the ads loaded at the wrong time when I watched this the first time. The long ad break split a shot in half.

-I liked Reno (Tig Notaro). The idea of using an engineering approach to medicine is interesting, although I wouldn't want to be one of the first patients it was tried on.

-The Red Angel is still very much an unknown. I partially expect it will have something to do with the Klingons, if not only because they seem from the trailers to have a big role to play.

-The asteroid material wouldn't beam up. That's intriguing. It may be the key to fixing the spore drive, too, as it looks from the trailer that we'll be jumping again this season.

-'Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal.' That's very interesting, and it has a lot of significance for Pike.

-It makes sense that the crew of the Enterprise would have issues with sitting out the war while on their five-year mission.

-The Disco's new Doctor is named Dr. Pollard.

-One of the names in the credits was 'Matt Decker.'

-A lot of references to faith/religion and related subjects in this episode. I don't think it's necessarily significant, but I thought it was worth noting.

-Alex Kurtzman directed this episode. I thought he did a great job; maybe he should stick to that instead of the whole coming up with ideas thing. I'm still baffled by the seriously weird and unsettling bits about Klingon anatomy from Season One.

Quotes:

Amanda: "I bless you, Michael... all my life."

Pike: "Do not covet thy neighbor's starship, Commander."

Pike: "Why didn't we think of that, Connelly? Think of all the syllables that gave their lives."

Pike: "Sometimes it's wise to keep your expectations low, Commander. That way we're never disappointed." Advice to the audience, perhaps?

Tilly: "I put her in a Utility closet, and I put you in there. I'm drunk on power."

Stamets: "Tilly, you are... incandescent. You're going to become a magnificent Captain because you do everything out of love. But I need you to repeat after me. I will say..." Tilly: "I will say..." Stamets: "Fewer things." Tilly: "Fewer thi- okay."

Sarek: "Spock has great reverence for his mother, but reverence tends to-" Burnham: "Fill up the room." It's the shot of Burnham's fairly empty quarters just as she interrupts that sells this one.

Pike: "Detmer - fly... good."

Pike: "I was expecting a red thing. Where's my damn red thing?"

Pike: "Spock asked the most amazing questions. It's completely logical, yet somehow able to make everyone see that logic was the beginning of the picture and not the end."

Burnham: "There are so many things I wish I'd said to you; so many things I want to say now. I'm too late, aren't I? I can only pray I don't lose you again... brother."

A strong, solid premiere. 5 out of 6 damn red things.

CoramDeo is interested in things.

[jonberry555]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Hegemony REVIEW

My Review of the finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2. The episode being Episode 10: "Hegemony." "When the U.S.S. Enterprise investigates an attack on a colony at the edge of Federation space, Captain Pike and his crew face the return of a formidable enemy."

[allspark]

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, My Little Pony, Spider-Man, Star Trek, and more! All coming your way for June 12th!

TRANSFORMERS #7

Brian Ruckley (A) Cachet Whitman (CVR A) Christian Ward (CVR B) Livio Ramondelli

When another body shows up, Chromia and Prowl feel the pressure to get answers. Bumblebee, meanwhile, applies for a new job-as a bodyguard. But first, he has to impress Elita-1.

•   New story begins here! •   A brand-new era of Transformers!

TRANSFORMERS #1 (2ND PTG)

Brian Ruckley (A) Angel Hernandez, Cachet Whitman (CVR) Gabriel Rodriguez

GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #263

Larry Hama (A/CVR A) Netho Diaz (CVR B) Dan Fraga

As Cobra continues its relentless onslaught on a global scale, G.I. Joe is there to meet them in kind. It’s tyranny versus freedom-heroes and villains will rise and fall, bullets will fly, blood will spill, and who and what remains when the smoke clears is anyone’s guess! Join Living Legend Larry Hama and superstar artist Netho Diaz for another explosive adventure into the action-packed world if G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero!

AMBER BLAKE #1 (2ND PTG)

Jade Lagardère (A/CVR) Butch Guice

AMBER BLAKE #4

Jade Lagardère (A/CVR) Butch Guice

Amber Blake has finally found the person responsible for all of the pain in her life-and there’s no way she’s letting him get away again. But nothing is as it seems, and when the people closest to her betray her, she’ll have to use all of her skills to get out alive-and to get the vengeance she’s longed for.

BERKELEY BREATHED’S BLOOM COUNTY ARTIST EDITION HC

Berkeley Breathed (A/CVR) Berkeley Breathed

The Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of one of the most cherished and fondly remembered comic strips of all time showcases his art in this deluxe oversized edition. You’ve read all the strips, now see the art! This Artist’s Edition features an incredible selection of daily and Sunday comic strips, as well as a selection of sketchbook pages and drawings, published here for the very first time, each and every one scanned from the original art. The dailies are presented at the ACTUAL size drawn, and the Sundays have been slightly reduced but are still bigger and more beautiful than they have ever been presented before! This is the ULTIMATE Bloom County collection by the inimitable Berkeley Breathead!

•   Advance solicited for November release! •   Bloom County returned as a successful webcomic in 2015, with collections published annually by IDW to critical acclaim.

DISNEY COMICS AND STORIES #5

Andrea Castellan, Marco Gervasio, Tito Faraci (A) Andrea Ferraris, Marco Gervasio, Alessio Coppola (CVR) Paolo Campinoti

Three stories never-before-seen in the U.S. await you in another fun-filled issue! In “Mickey Mouse and the Hydrophilic Monsters,” Mickey and Goofy encounter plant life like they-or you-have never seen before! Then, in “Pluto and the ‘Super’ Day,” what happens when Goofy dog-sits Mickey’s beloved pup? Why, nothing less than the unexpected! Finally, in “Shhh,” Peg-Leg Pete and his accomplice encounter more than they bargained for in a robbery gone very wrong!

GLOW #2

Tini Howard (A/CVR A) Hannah Templer

Faced with foes in the forms of the Star Primas-who have real muscles and matching windbreakers-the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are ready to prove they aren’t unskilled losers. They’re paid television actors! And it’s time to show those Star Primas that paid television actors mean business… Based on the hit Netflix series!

GOOSEBUMPS HORRORS OF THE WITCH HOUSE #2

Denton J. Tipton, Matthew Dow Smith (A/CVR A) Chris Fenoglio

Rosie thought it was bad enough having a witch as a neighbor, but now the witch is trying to take over the whole town! As their parents fall under the witch’s dark spell, it’s up to Rosie and her friends to try and save the day. And they thought algebra was hard…

GLOW #2

Tini Howard (A/CVR A) Hannah Templer

Faced with foes in the forms of the Star Primas-who have real muscles and matching windbreakers-the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are ready to prove they aren’t unskilled losers. They’re paid television actors! And it’s time to show those Star Primas that paid television actors mean business… Based on the hit Netflix series!

GRAVE TP

Dan Fraga (A/CVR) Dan Fraga

ADVANCE SOLICITED FOR APRIL RELEASE! For fans of coming-of-age stories similar to Stephen King’s The Body; the movie based on it, Stand By Me; IT; Stranger Things; and E.T. Drawn one panel per day over a year, follow the story of three boys who discover a shallow grave while on a weekend camping trip. But that’s just where the mystery begins. The unexpected find reveals a cigar box containing seven mysterious items: a knife, a coin, a pocket watch, a rare baseball card, a gold ring, a silver spoon, and a strange manga comic. How are these items connected? Whose body lies buried? Find out in this once in a lifetime tale of friendship, mystery, suspense, and growing up.

MARVEL ACTION SPIDER-MAN #5

Erik Burnham (A/CVR A) Christopher Jones

Now that Peter, Miles, and Gwen have joined forces, nothing can stop them! Except maybe for homework and an internship at the Daily Bugle. Not to mention being stalked by a most dangerous foe… Kraven the Hunter! All-new web-slinging action in the Mighty Marvel Manner! This exciting new story arc features the Marvel Action debut of Kraven the Hunter! Variant cover by Marvel Action: Black Panther artist Juan Samu!

MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #78

Katie Cook, Andy Price (A/CVR A) Andy Price

The thrilling conclusion to the “Cosmos” story arc is here! With the most powerful ponies in Equestria under Cosmos’ control, do the remaining ponies stand a chance? And whose side will Discord take? Don’t miss the end of what might be Katie Cook and Andy Price’s finest MLP story yet!

MY LITTLE PONY TO WHERE AND BACK AGAIN GN

Justin Eisinger (A/CVR) Various

Adapting the most beloved My Little Pony animated cartoon episodes to graphic novels! My Little Pony comes to bookshelves! Revisit the inhabitants of Equestria and learn about the magic that friendship brings in this adaptation of the television series’ sixth season finale! This volume adapts the two-part “To Where and Back Again” in an original graphic novel.

ROAD OF THE DEAD HIGHWAY TO HELL TP

Jonathan Maberry (A) Drew Moss (CVR) Santiperez

Advance solicited for June release! The five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author introduces the world to the latest chapter of the zombie epic in this over-the-top wild-ride prequel to ROAD OF THE DEAD! The dead rose and are feasting on the living and a young scientist may hold the secret to a cure. Meanwhile, zombies and biker gangs want her dead, so it’s up to a bunch of losers in muscle cars and a hijacked tank to risk everything to save her.

STAR TREK Q CONFLICT #5

Scott Tipton, David Tipton (A/CVR A&B) David Messina

The contest for the ages continues as the Captains race to capture the one exotic creature that Trelane is missing from his intergalactic menagerie-a Borg Queen! But as the Godlike beings revel in the games, the crews are hatching a plan of their own. Don’t miss the penultimate issue of the biggest Star Trek crossover of all time! The crews of The Next Generation, The Original Series, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine come together to face their biggest challenge yet! Written by Star Trek: TNG: Mirror Broken scribes Scott & David Tipton!

STAR TREK VS TRANSFORMERS TP

John Barber, Mike Johnson (A) Jack Lawrence (A/CVR) Philip Murphy

When Kirk, Spock, and the entire crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise investigate problems at a remote mine, they’re met with a explosive battle between powerful warriors who change into vehicles from the 20th century! As the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons rages, it’s up to Kirk to decide-does he violate the Prime Directive and interfere in a war that’s raged for millenia? And how will the Klingons complicate the issue? It’s cartoony fun between two of the most popular science fiction franchises in the world!

•   Advance solicited for May release! •   Four decades in the making, it’s the crossover that fans have demanded! Kirk, Spock, and Autobots! •   Decepticons and Klingons! Optimus Prime and the Prime Directive!

SWAMP MONSTERS

(CVR) Iger Shop

Something’s out there in the mad, murky depths of the fear-filled, sinister swamp… some… swamp… THING is coming for you! And it’s out for mud! The terror team that brought you Zombies, Return of the Zombies, and the petrifyingly popular hit series, Haunted Horror, takes you on an excursion of evil into the dankest, lagooniest corners of your nightmares, and dredge up over 240 pages of icky, drippy, slimy, grimy beasts from the grungy bottom of the Pre-Code comics’ bog. Swamp Monsters includes a fascinating introduction by comics legend, acclaimed artist of Swamp Thing, “Swampy” Stephen Bissette!

V-WARS GOD OF DEATH ONE-SHOT

Jonathan Maberry (A) Alex Milne (CVR A) Ryan Brown

Michael Fayne was patient zero of the plague that exploded into the Vampire Wars. A cult of militant vampires wants to resurrect him. Luther Swann leads a strike team to prevent the rise of a vampire god. New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry returns with an all-new V-Wars tale.

Five-time Bram Stoker award-winning author Jonathan Maberry returns to his signature comic book creation in time for the new TV series starring Ian Somerhalder!

Cover and interior art features the return of Transformers: Unicron superstar artist Alex Milne! Watch for V-Wars on Netflix starring Ian Somerhalder in 2019!

  Join the IDW Hasbro Shared Universe related conversation here in our Comics Discussion and Reviews section and here for all other franchises, superheroes, or general comic book discussions! Not a member? Join our community by creating your own free account here! Or jump right into the live chat on our Discord server or our Facebook Group!

IDW Comics Shipping List for June 12th! It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like…

[exxar1]

Episode 4: Waking Up

11/14/2020

Good morning, folks. As I write this, I’m sitting in my living room, listening to an Apple music channel of classic Christmas carols, while late morning sunshine streams through my front window. I have just finished putting laundry in the dryer and washing the few dishes in the sink that piled up during the week. My McDonald’s iced coffee is almost gone, and I’m feeling ready to face the day.

I have a couple hours before I have to start getting ready for work, so there’s not a lot of time to hammer out this blog entry. I don’t have a lot to say for this episode, but I have been feeling somewhat strange for the last couple weeks. Not ‘strange’ in the physical sense, but ‘strange’ as in ‘there’s something happening with me that I can’t quite explain’.

And now I’m going to try to explain what I’m talking about.

Per my usual work routine, I spend 5 ½ hours every morning, Monday through Friday, in the lobby of Walmart, greeting customers and making sure everyone is wearing their face mask. And, as usual, I have nothing but my own thoughts and the occasional conversation with co-workers to keep me company. But mostly just my own thoughts. And boy, my brain lately will just not shut down – or even go into standby mode. It seems that all I can do lately is just think, think, think. Here’s a sample of what tumbles through my head from morning until night every day:

·      Is the ballot recounts for the national election close to being done? Will Trump retain his presidency (I hope), or will America finally get its first female president? (Yes, you read that correctly.)

·      Spencer Klavan of the “Young Heretics” podcast so damn good looking, and the fact that he’s also a “Super Mario Bros” fan in addition to being ivy league educated and possessing near-savant level human intelligence has forced me to finally admit that I have had a massive crush on him for almost four months now. (I just wish he wasn’t such an avid gym rat. That’s such a turnoff. Well, that, and the fact he already has a boyfriend.)

·      I need to start working on the story ideas that came to me a few weeks ago. There’s two really good ones that I know would make excellent short stories, or, at the very least, novellas. One’s about a superhero called The Red Mask, and the other is about cats and dogs that are created with a sophisticated AI that allows them to look, feel and behave exactly like real animals but without all the maintenance and mess that pet owners have to put up with (such as feeding them, combing them, bathing them, walking them, training them, cleaning up their poop, etc.).

·      Oh! A circuit court judge in Georgia just ordered a bunch of ballots to be thrown out in that state’s recount!

·      Spencer Klavan liked one of my tweets about Young Heretics!!!!

·      Should I have McDonald’s for lunch or the apple I brought with me? The apple. Definitely the apple. Need to stay healthy.

·      I can’t believe all the idiots on social media that not only voted for Biden/Harris but actually think that he will make a good president. What the hell is wrong with them???? Anyone with half a brain can easily recognize what Trump has done for this country, and it scares the shit out of me that the radical left (capital ‘R’, capital ‘L’) just might get their foot in the door of the White House. What the fuck is wrong with half of America right now??? It’s all that “white fragility”, “systemic racism”, “white privilege”, “black lives matter” bullshit!!! How the fuck did that horseshit gain such powerful traction in this country????Robin Deanglo and Ibram X Kendi and all their pathetic followers are so full of shit they ought to open their own manure factory!!!!

·      Yay! The 2021 “Super Mario Bros” and “Star Trek” wall calendars I ordered on Amazon have shipped! They’ll be here Tuesday!

·      And that reminds me, I need to start working on the photo calendars that I give to my family every year for Christmas. Maybe I should do that this Saturday morning before my shift at Check City.

·      Oh. Time for my break. Yay! Coffee!

And…repeat. That. All of that. Over and over all day long – creative story thoughts, political thoughts, work thoughts, checking my phone three times an hour to review the latest posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay on top of all the latest news and current events that serve to fuel my new woke self. Texting friends and family about this and that. On and on and on...

Hhmmm. My new woke self.

The other day, as this new thought occurred to me, I mentally reviewed everything that’s happened to me this year, everything that I wrote about in that first blog episode. I also thought about my recent self-examination of my whole life up to this point, the stuff I covered in episodes 2 and 3 of this blog. Then I thought back over the last two weeks: the sudden and unexpected passing of Aaron; his memorial service that I made an emergency trip home to Idaho to attend; and, finally, this new, strange…’wokeness’, for lack of a better term, that I now find myself in.

I honestly don’t know how to precisely describe it. I’ve been trying all this week to come up with apt, specific words and/or phrases, and then, finally, I thought of something. I’m a huge fan of the reboot of “Battlestar: Galactica” that was done by Ronald D Moore on the SyFy channel in 2004. It’s been a few years since I last binged all 4 seasons of that terrific show, but I was thinking about it the other day as my mind wandered, and it suddenly occurred to me what this new ‘woke’ state that I’m in feels like: the Cylon sleeper agents (who looked and acted like real humans) that were suddenly awakened to their true nature.

Yeah, I’m not kidding. Yes, I know how that sounds, but let me explain. I really feel like that, somewhere deep in the core of my brain, a metaphorical ‘switch’ was flipped from ‘off’ to ‘on’ along about late August or early September of this year. The world around me did not change, but my perception of it – as well as my perception of my place in it – did fundamentally change. I realized this week that for pretty much all my life I’ve been coasting through it. Everything that I’ve done and accomplished took no real effort or sacrifice on my part. Everything after high school pretty much just happened naturally. I decided to join the Army on a whim. When that didn’t work out, I came back home and enrolled in college. I spent 4 ½ years doing what I loved – reading, writing, discussing reading and writing – and I came out with a Bachelor’s in English. Again, no real effort. I coasted through on my natural talents. The only real work was in the core classes that I needed for my degree, like math or biology. But those were few. And then, after college, instead of putting my degree to use, I just settled for a day job in retail and then, later, in an elementary school. And then, in 2012, on a whim, I quit my job and moved to Las Vegas. Once again, I found a cushy day job where I make really good money, and…then 2020 happened.

In other words, I’ve never been an active participant in my own life. I just kinda let everything happen and went with the flow. I even had this same attitude in high school and it drove my parents and teachers absolutely mad. I didn’t care about being valedictorian or captain of the sports teams or even being the best damn piano player this side of the Rockies. All that mattered was hanging out with my friends and making sure the VCR was set each week to record the newest episodes of “Star Trek: DS9” and “Star Trek: Voyager”. And, without consciously realizing it, that’s been my attitude for my whole damn life. I’ve never cared about the world beyond my own front door. If it didn’t affect my life directly, I never paid it any attention. That’s especially true for politics. No matter who sat in the White House, my life never changed. So I figured, why bother? I’m perfectly content to live a quiet, solitary existence, and the rest of the world can do its own thing.

Except that now I’m no longer content with my quiet, solitary existence. Something within me fundamentally changed this year, and there’s no going back.

I am awake. (But, unlike the Cylons, I’m not about to start murdering humans.) I’m certain that it was God’s hand that reached down to flip that invisible switch in my brain, but now that I have rejected my former sleeper state, I don’t know exactly what to do. For the last couple weeks, I have felt nervous; anxious; excited; jittery; like a live wire that’s been cut and is now flopping on the ground, shooting sparks and energy. I have to constantly resist the urge to grab total strangers off the street and shout at them to “Wake up!” The world around us is changing, and we can’t live as sleeper agents in our own lives. Everything that’s happened in 2020 is going to shape the future of this country and the lives of everyone in it, and no one can afford to not care and just keep living their quiet, solitary lives.

This is why I scream on social media about the stupid mask mandates, and the ‘lamestream’ media, and politics, and everything else that I’ve been ranting and raving about for nine months. And yes, I’m sure some of my friends think I’ve gone crazy, and more than a few have probably unfollowed me. I don’t mean to alienate folks, but I have to put this energy somewhere or I’ll go crazy.

One of biggest changes that I have noted is that I no longer have a desire to park in front of the TV in my time off. I still have a few regular shows that I watch each week, but my passion has turned to reading and podcasts. I renewed my Audible.com membership a few months ago, and I have started stockpiling audiobooks on various subjects: biographies of the Founding Fathers of America, non-fiction books on artificial intelligence and other new forms of technology, books on world history, western literature and Greek philosophy. (I recently began listening to a series of lectures from Boston University on Plato’s “Republic”). And, of course, the highlight of my week is a new episode of “Young Heretics” every Tuesday. (And no, it’s not just because of my crush on Spencer Klavan.) I also have started carving out an hour here and there each day to grab my laptop and write a few paragraphs of new stories or just jot notes for upcoming stories.

I really, honestly feel as if something is coming. I don’t know what, I don’t know when, but God woke me up for a reason. He’s got something planned for me, and I need to be ready for it. I’m pretty certain the world is not coming to an end anytime soon, and I’m sure 2021 will be a better year for our nation than 2020, no matter who’s sitting in the White House. And yes, Lord willing, this stupid “pandemic” will also be over sometime soon. For me, personally, 2020 was the year that changed me and got me ready for whatever is coming. A fire’s been lit under my ass, but I’m not sure where yet where I’m supposed to be jumping up and running to.

I am sure, however, that It’s time to be an active participant in my own life.

Hey mom and dad, I really do care now, and I really, truly want to do my best. I want only top grades and to be the captain of…something. It only took twenty-six? Twenty-seven years? But now I’m going to be that grade-A student that you and Mrs. Tutty and Mrs. Jones and Mr. Walker always knew I could be.

Better late than never, eh?

[themovieblogonline]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Builds On Its Excellent Approach To Trek

I’m still amazed at how much new Star Trek there is to talk about these days. And with the Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere approaching at Warp speed, my amazement knows no bounds. The new season of the official prequel to The Original Series (TOS) definitely builds on the light-hearted and very likeable approach to Star Trek storytelling that season 1 initiated. The vibrant tone and amazing characters continue to make Strange New Worlds one of the best Star Trek shows on the air right now, for entirely different reasons than the others. Check out my review of the Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere, and its first six episodes. Strange New Worlds Season 2 Premiere Review Is Spoiler-Free Strange New Worlds season 1 spun off of Star Trek: Discovery and focuses on the Starfleet flagship of the Enterprise before James T. Kirk became its captain. So in essence, the show acts as a prequel to the events of TOS. The many different Star Trek shows on the air right now all have their own tone and vibe. But Strange New Worlds excels because it’s able to capture the essence of the TOS era, with the polish of The Next Generation era, as well as the dark themes and morals of the Deep Space Nine storylines. All the while having a lot of fun throughout! With the premiere of Strange New Worlds season 2, I’m happy to say that those elements of the show continue. And not just continue, but even builds on season 1 with an even deeper exploration of characters, themes and storylines that flesh out this time of Star Trek that we’ve already seen before. The best part about the Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere is how it honours a classic Star Trek storytelling trope; stealing a ship to go on an unsanctioned rescue mission! Seeing this new crew follow in the footsteps of those who, in release order, not chronologically, came before. How Strange New Worlds Season 2 Continues Homages Various Genres One of the best things about Strange New Worlds season 1 is how each episode homaged a different film and TV genre. And I’m so glad that the season 2 premiere continues that tradition in an awesome way. The first six episodes of Strange New Worlds season 2 are immensely compelling and highly engaging. The show further explores the various new crew members’ backstories and even provides them with new and interesting challenges. Some very exciting and cheer-worthy, and some absolutely devastating. After watching some of these six new episodes, many of these characters have already become my all-time favourite ones in all of Trek! And that’s saying a lot, given just how much Star Trek we’ve gotten in decades of content. Many of the episodes go deeper into these new characters' stories and lives. We learn more about them, and so immediately learn to love them even more. It’s great storytelling coupled with wonderful performances from this talented cast. A New Season And A Lot Of New Changes But even going beyond the character stories, Strange New Worlds season 2 further expands the world of Trek, especially in this era. For all intents and purposes, This era of Star Trek is the first, the beginning of Trek lore as we know it. While time travel has given us previous stories, as well as the TV series Enterprise that was set before, this era is still the definitive for Star Trek. So seeing how the worlds, politics and alliances and even enemies develop in this time, is just incredibly fascinating for ardent Star Trek fans. And still interesting drama and storytelling for newcomers to the franchise. With the new season premiering on the heels of Star Trek: Picard’s final season, Strange New Worlds is great for those looking for a more light-hearted show, not steeped in previous lore or easter eggs. While the show will have a lot of plusses for veteran fans, it’s also very accessible and has a lot to offer those fans looking for an awesome new science fiction show that has spectacle and heart. And a lot more to offer, if you really use it as an entry point into the rest of the Star Trek franchise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJYPXuM-3JA Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere streams on Paramount+ on June 15, 2023. Are you excited for season 2 of this awesome new show? Follow The Movie Blog for more features and reviews of Star Trek shows, or reach out to me on Twitter at @theshahshahid. Read the full article

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Far From Home

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This Star Trek: Discovery review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 2

Star Trek: Discovery season three continues to take its time in the second episode, which acts as a satisfying parallel to the season premiere. Last week, we followed Michael in her first day in this strange, new frontier. This week, we’re doing the same with the rest of the Discovery crew. Like Michael, their introduction to this new time begins with a traumatic, dizzying fall from space. Unlike Michael, they have one another to lean on, not to mention an entire starship to keep them safe. With sloppy writing, this kind of retread of the “stranger in a strange land” plot could have been redundant and boring, but Discovery nails it for the second week in a row, giving us further insight into how the values and the experiences of these 23rd century characters fit and don’t in this new world.

There’s something deeply unnatural about seeing a starship on the ground. Usually built in space and equipped with shuttlecrafts for away missions, a starship could conceivably live out its whole life without ever touching the surface of a planet. Because of this, if a starship is on the ground, something has probably gone terribly wrong, for example: the starship has jumped 930 years into the future and come out in the middle of an asteroid field with many of its systems straight-up not responding. Or something like that.

Like Michael in the premiere, Discovery’s first experience in this new time is crash landing onto a planet. A planet that the crew quickly realizes is not their intended destination of Terralysium (aka Burnham’s mom’s home base). Where are they? Doesn’t matter! Discovery can’t fly and can’t communicate, and Saru makes it clear to his crew that fixing these problems needs to be the priority, even if there is a shiny new future out there to explore. (Shiny new futures are like cat nip for these Federation types.) The crew goes about fixing the plasma manifold rupture, which means finding and fixing all of the EPS conduits that went boom.

But, really, where are they? OK, fine. The planet doesn’t really have a name; the few people who live in the man-made pockets of breathable atmosphere simply call their home “The Colony,” and that no-name status tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this place. It’s a backwater that no one cares about, especially, presumably, now that its mining colonies have been sabotaged. If this were a western, a genre the episode mades several explicit references to, then this would the mostly-abandoned frontier town way down on its luck.

The Colony may be a dusty frontier town, but it’s still 930 years ahead of the Discovery when it comes to tech, which is good news for the battered ship. While the crew works diligently to make the repairs necessary to get Discovery flying again before the planet’s parasitic ice crushes the hull and everyone in it (did I not mention there is parasitic, hull-crushing ice?), Saru and Tilly travel to one of the settlements in search of a repair for a broken transtator. As with any good western, they find a saloon filled with trigger-happy locals (well, two trigger happy locals). But even future folk can’t resist the one-two punch of Sar and Tilly’s earnest likability. They agree to help.

It helps that one of the miners, Kal, believes in the Federation. Like Mr. Sahil in last week’s episode, Kal is a true believer, someone who hopes for the Federation long after there is evidence to inspire or support that hope. Unlike Mr. Sahil, Kal has bigger problems than keeping his teeth clean and. his bird alarm clock set. The Colony is under the thumb of local bully Zareh, a violent courier who uses his position to exploit the remote community. When Zareh shows up on the saloon scene, the situation quickly takes a violent turn. Kal is killed, and Zareh plans to send Tilly out into the parasitic winter to retrieve the dilithium Saru has promised in exchange for their safe release.

But Saru and Tilly aren’t in the same situation as Michael: they have backup, even when they don’t ask for it. Emperor Georgiou, highly critical of Saru’s plans to simply ask the locals nicely for their help, has followed Tilly and Saru. She saunters in and turns the situation on its head, quickly taking Zareh and his henchmen out. The backup definitely saves Tilly’s life and probably saves Saru’s too, and presents an uncomfortable truth: Saru might not like Georgiou’s methods, but it’s hard to deny that she is a useful ally in this lawless future. Still, Saru won’t let Georgiou kill Zareh, after he has been safely apprehended, giving the choice of justice to the remaining miner instead. Georgiou goes along with it when Saru pulls rank, but it’s not clear how long that will work. Right now, Georgiou is of value to the crew and willing to, more or less, follow the rules of Discovery, but it’s not hard to imagine that there will come a day when this is not the case anymore. When that day comes, Saru will have some hard choices to make.

While Saru, Tilly, and Georgiou secure a messy victory on the planet, the crew of Discovery manages to secure a last-minute victory repairing the ship’s systems, with a huge assist from a very injured Stamets. (Yeah, his medically-induced coma has been cut short.) We often speak about Star Trek, at least in its initial incarnations, as a utopian show and, for me, I understand that utopia as directly related to workplace. Star Trek: The Next Generation especially is a show about the best office ever, one where everyone is excited to be there, is good at their jobs, and will show up for their colleagues’ poetry readings. It’s a depiction of a workplace that is so healthy and functional that the near non-existence of everyone’s domestic lives is depicted as not a problem. Past Season 1, the Discovery has had more of this happy workplace vibe—that being said, this ship has a serious problem with employees working while sick and/or wounded (a very American work culture flaw). In this episode, we see both Detmer and Stamets work through their serious injuries. While it works out for now, especially in Stamets’ instance, it’s a dangerous game and one that, at least in my workplace utopia, is sad to see. While this is a lesson I need to internalize myself, addressing any and all medical concerns and listening to your doctor’s advice (as is demonstrated in this episode by Reno) is necessary for a healthy and efficient workplace. (But, seriously, someone needs to check on Detmer.)

The episode ends with a hell of a plot twist that, while many viewers may have seen coming, still packs a punch. A mysterious ship shows up to help haul Discovery out of the ice. It’s Burnham, and she has finally found Discovery… after a year of searching. Frankly, she looks great, and is probably overjoyed that she didn’t have to wait longer for Discovery to appear in this time. (In last week’s episode, she and Mr. Sahil agreed that it could be days or it could be centuries.) We’ll have to wait until next week to see what Michael has been up to, but, now that the Discovery crew has been properly reunited, this future feels one step closer to restoring the Federation.

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Additional thoughts.

It’s a very broad title, but it makes me laugh that this episode has the same name as the last Spider-Man movie.

Is there anything scarier than having your helm yell “Brace!” because there is nothing else they can do?

Having the bridge crew cheer Detmer after that crash landing was a nice touch. I love this group.

The sickbay needs to step up its game. Dr. Pollard, right now I’m looking specifically at you. (But, again, Detmer, you got to speak up about those symptoms, friend!)

“Um, you have some Leland on your shoes.”

Stamets’ “Worse than me?” upon being awoken from his coma so that someone else can have his bed is a real metric of the situation. I am still unclear what the capacity of this medbay is. How many beds does it have? It always seem to have a skeleton crew of doctors.

“OK, what the f-?!” Tilly snaps at Georgiou in a highly relatable way.

Different incarnations of Trek have had different policies and patterns when it came to how often the captain would go on away missions. Thoughts on Saru, the captain, leaving the ship during this crucial moment?

“We are introducing ourselves to the future. You, Ensign Tilly, make a wonderful first impression.” I love that Saru (and this show) recognizes this quality as the skill that it is.

Beautiful Iceland!

We get some great Saru as captain moments in this episode. He is kind and clear-eyed, communicative and firm, smart and calm under pressure, and he also kicks some ass when it is called for.

“What an unbelievably shitty decision.” Georgiou’s thoughts on Nhan’s choice to ditch the Enterprise in favor of Discovery. I mean… I kind of get where she is coming from on this.

“Bureaucracy is where fun goes to die.” Emperor Georgiou, not a fan of Section 31 or, most likely, Starfleet.

“We’re odd and strange.” “Not to each other.”

Do you think we will see Zareh again? I kind of hope not.

Gene is credited as “Ensign Hazmat,” which is a nice touch. I hope we see him again.

Like the season premiere, this episode was also directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, and it was beautiful.

While I am excited to see Michael and the Discovery crew reunited, it would have been interesting to spend a good chunk of the season alternating episodes between these two groups, a la Farscape Season 3, and only having them reunite well into the season. But I am cool with this too.

What did you think of “Far From Home”? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Far From Home appeared first on Den of Geek.

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 8/25/17

  In movie news, there was quite the controversial casting this week, as the color lines blurred for some comic book adaptations. First up, it was announced that English actor Ed Skrein would be portraying Japanese character Ben Daimio in the upcoming Hellboy reboot. Now, according to what I’ve read, Daimio’s Japanese heritage heavily influences the character, so this whitewashing of the character doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of the character. I mean, after the problems with whitewashing in Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, Aloha, The Great Wall, and Ni’ihau, you’d think Hollywood would avoid shit like this. Yes, movies are made to make money, but it’s not like Skrein is a bankable star worth slotting into the role, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Usually this is done for the film’s STARS. Damon, Johansson, Stone. This is a secondary character, so it really wouldn’t have hurt them to seek out an Asian actor. Normally I’m just like “Well, Hollywood’s gonna Hollywood”, but this decision just doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Next up, 24: Legacy’s Anna Diop has been cast as Starfire in Warner Bros’ Titans series, slated to air on DC’s upcoming digital service. Some folks are saying they should’ve cast a Latina, but she’s gonna either be painted or CGied in orange, so it’s not like it’s gonna matter at the end of the day. Personally, if they wanted authenticity, I think they should’ve cast an actual orange alien princess. Right now there are just too many unknowns for me to get excited about this. I mean, DC announced the digital service without a lot of information. What’s gonna be on it? What will it cost? How much of the DC library will be available to be housed on it? As for Titans, this is the show TNT passed on. Ya know, the home of such illustrious shows as The Librarians and The Last Ship. I mean, they’re basically just about a notch up from what we got in the 90s from Universal’s Action Pack lineup. If Titans couldn’t fit anywhere on that schedule, then it probably just isn’t “ready for primetime” yet.

Speaking of aimless Warner Bros decisions, they announced 2 different Joker movies this week. First up is an origin tale, directed by Todd Phillips of Old School fame, and produced by Martin Scorsese. Hmm, one of those things is not like the other. I mean, why would Scorsese touch something helmed by the dude who gave us Road Trip? And who even WANTS a Joker origin story? First of all, it’s reportedly not even going to be part of the DCEU, so why confuse the audience with a story that won’t even really “count” in the grand scheme of things? Nobody needs a standalone origin of a take on a character they’ll likely never see again. This is just as foolish as Sony’s Don’t-Look-For-Spider-Man-To-Appear Venom movie. Next, the guys behind This Is Us (SO hot right now!) and Crazy, Stupid, Love are working on a Bonnie & Clyde-style Joker and Harley film, with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie reprising their roles from Suicide Squad. Since this would sort of negate the empowerment that Harley gained by the end of Squad, it’s believed that this actually means that the planned Gotham City Sirens film, also slated to star Robbie, is now dead. Honestly, I could do without either of these movies. I found Leto’s take on Joker to be…interesting, but Less is More with that character. Plus, I don’t really think the DCEU would be strengthened by this sort of movie. It’s not the world-building they need to be doing right now, as they haven’t even figured out the core of their star characters like Batman and Superman yet.

In TV news, Christopher Sebela’s comic Heartthrob has been optioned as a TV series by Felix Culpa – a production company launched by actress/Elvis’s granddaughter Riley Keough. Now, comics are optioned every day, and the final product never comes to fruition, but I hope this series sees the light of day. I’m actually a big fan of the comic, which is published by Oni Press. Set in the late 70s, it focuses on Callie, who’s received a heart transplant while the process is still in its infancy. Given a new lease on life, but still told she’s basically living on borrowed time, she decides to change her life when she meets Mercer, a charming guy with a shady side. She immediately falls for him, and he teaches her how to be bad, like rob banks and commit other crimes. She gets off on the rush. Pretty soon, however, she realizes that Mercer isn’t real. No, he’s actually the ghost of the guy whose heart is now in Callie. So, it’s a Bonnie & Clyde story where Clyde’s calling the shots from the afterlife. The book is published in “seasons”, so the first 5-issue miniseries wrapped up back in early 2016, while season 2 is hitting stores now. If you’re looking for a new comic not from the Big Two, I highly recommend it.

In music news, Taylor Swift did a whole social blitz to announce that her next album would be called Reputation, and would be released Nov 10th. On top of that, the first single was released last night, with rumors that the video will premiere at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards. Ya know, the same awards hosted my Taylor’s enemy Katy Perry. Yeah, that should be pretty interesting to watch. Anyway, the new song is called “Look What You Made Me Do”, and I’m not too impressed. It lacks a real hook, while the chorus itself is basically spoken. I feel like it has all the ingredients for a great song, but it’s not living up to its full potential. If this is an indicator of what to expect on Reputation, though, I’ll admit I’m curious. It can’t be worse than Perry’s Witness.

Speaking of Katy Perry, we got the premiere of her video for “Swish Swish”, which was reportedly her diss track against Taylor Swift. After a lot of backtracking and sucking up, though, it seems Katy wants to put that feud behind her. That’s why this horrible video does everything it can to take the bite out of a song that was never really that biting to begin with. I mean, just look at it – Molly Shannon? Terry Crews? Even Nicki Minaj was clearly CGied in, as I’m sure she didn’t wanna be anywhere near this shitshow. The sad thing about the Perry/Swift feud is that Katy bailed on it the minute she realized the Swifties were a more powerful lobby than she had thought. Nobody was feeling her SNL performances, and Witness didn’t exactly fly off the shelves. She realized that she can’t really survive by making enemies, so suddenly she became conciliatory to save her ass. Plus, it’s kinda lame that this blood feud started just because Taylor stole a few of Katy’s dancers for her tour. Anyway, you’ll never get those 6 minutes back. You’re welcome.

I had the pleasure of joining my buddy Zac for his new podcast, The Zac Shipley Show. He’s treating these first few episodes as pilots for ideas he’s wanted to try, so our ep was called Streaming Pile, where we talked about the worst things we could find on streaming services. I talked about a Star Trek: Voyager episode where formerly perky pixie Kes returns all middle-aged and bitter. You should check it out, and give a listen to his other episodes while you’re there!

Song of the Week

I’ve been a big Maren Morris fan since she released “My Church”, and I was really into her next single, “80s Mercedes”. With this song she continues not to disappoint, as I love the groove on this thing. Listen to the bassline. It’s not a dance song, yet you can do a MEAN two-step to it. Hell, I think you could even do a casual version of The Hustle to it. This will definitely go to #1 given time.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

NBC’s planned reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess – which would’ve featured a full-on lesbian relationship between her and Gabrielle – is officially dead, as they said “it didn’t warrant a reboot”. Man, if only other studios would realize this about some of their projects…

Director James Gunn mentioned in a Q & A session that the 3rd Guardians of the Galaxy film would set up the next 10-20 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yup, you’re just now realizing your own mortality. I’ll give you a minute to deal with that.

Speaking of Gunn, he’s attached to write the pilot for (and possibly direct) a reboot of 70s series Starsky & Hutch. This adaptation is supposed to be similar in tone to CBS’s upcoming S.W.A.T. and not comedic in tone like the 2004 Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson movie.

Surprising every critic in Hollywood, Netflix has renewed the maligned comedy Friends From College for a second season.

Known for controversial publicity stunts, Alamo Drafthouse is reportedly organizing a Clowns Only screening of the new adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

We got a new poster for Thor: Ragnarok. So many colors!

Michael K. Williams has reportedly been cut from the Star Wars Han Solo film, as Ron Howard’s reshoot schedule conflicted with another role that Williams had accepted.

There are, like, 8 different Knight Rider reboot treatments floating around Hollywood, but the latest rumor is that one of those productions is looking at John Cena as Michael Knight, with Kevin Hart as the voice of K.I.T.T. Of course, it would be a comedic adaptation, a la the popular Jump Street franchise.

Super Troopers 2, the sequel to one of the most overrated films I’ve ever seen, will hit theaters April 20th, 2018.

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson will star in Nasty Women, which is a female-led reboot of the Michael Caine/Steve Martin classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Independence Day: Resurgence‘s Jessie T Usher will star in Son of Shaft, with Samuel L. Jackson potentially reprising his role as John Shaft (from the 2000 reboot film), the nephew of the original John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree, who is also in talks to join the movie. Man, that gave me a headache.

Always on the cutting edge, here’s Sesame Street’s parody of 2017’s song of the summer, “Despacito”

According to the creators, the Netflix series Stranger Things will most likely end after its fourth season

The actress formerly known as “Andrea Zuckerman���, Gabrielle Carteris, has been re-elected to a 2-year term as the President of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

Ryan Gosling will host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Jay-Z, on Sept 30th.

Jamie Bell is developing a Jumper TV series, based on the 2008 film about teleporters

Suicide Squad 2 is reportedly being fast tracked, but I hope they fast track it right into the garbage. I mean, I enjoyed the first one, but I don’t need a sequel.

I like Nick Kroll, even though I never saw even a second of Kroll Show. Anyway, he’s got a new animated series about puberty called Big Mouth coming to Netflix and after watching this teaser I am ON BOARD!

We’re a month away from the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, and it was revealed that it will be rated TV-MA, for Mature Audiences. Now, it doesn’t mean there’ll be tits and phasers, but it does mean they can tell more complex stories. That said, I still feel like they don’t truly understand the source material.

After a scathing essay from his ex-wife went public, accusing him of adultery and other generally shitty behavior to women, Joss Whedon went underground and the fan site, Whedonesque, shut down after 15 years.

We got a new teaser for Netflix’s The Punisher. With the rate I’m getting through these Marvel shows, I’ll probably get to it just before Evie goes off to Hogwarts.

There was a national solar eclipse this week, which was the first occurrence since 1918. I’m sure you might’ve heard something about it. It was kind of a big deal. Folks were pimping out special cardboard glasses on Craigslist for insane amounts of money, and the American President made news by looking directly into it. It seems that it had a strange effect on different folks. For example, Netflix viewership went down 10% as people went outside to view the phenomenon. Not everyone understood what was going on, bless their hearts. At work, a frantic parent called in and said “Y’all watching the news? You hear about this eclipse? Is it serious?!” Apparently she thought it posed some sort of danger to her kids and the school. No, ma’am. It’s just a beautiful sky ballet. Anyway, the eclipse was EVERYWHERE. I didn’t get to see totality, but it was still nice to stand outside for a bit on a nice day. What am I saying? I hate the outdoors! Well, it was nice to not have to work for a few minutes. You couldn’t escape the Eclipse Fever at the start of the week, so that’s why the Solar Eclipse of 2017 had the West Week Ever.

[briangroth27]

Groth Potential Blog Index

For my new followers and anyone wanting to take a look back at older posts, here are direct links to everything I’ve written so far. I hope you find something you enjoy and/or a new conversation starter!

About Me

Short Stories 1-10 are the Spooky Shorts I’ve written for Halloween for the last two years. Some have NSFW language and violence, but I try not to go overboard. The eleventh is a fairy tale from the dragon’s perspective and the twelfth is a short script I wrote based on a friend’s idea.

1. Intuition 2. Visage 3. Lock Your Doors!  4. Sweet Tooth 5. Flicker 6. Deathbed 7. The Next Town Over  8. Deadly Decor 9. Campfire Tales 10. The Final Girls 11. Less a Princess    12. #TurntUpStickUp

Short Films The first link contains two short films I wrote, directed, and acted in back in college as well as a play I starred in (but did not write or direct) afterwards. The second link will take you to my college senior capstone project, a one-man show I wrote, directed, and performed.

1. Men Simplified: The Pizza Box, The Bourne Romantic, and Showing Your Hand 2. An Evening at Fred’s 

Make This Show Pitches for shows I’d love to see. And write.

1. Super-Fast Friends 2. Hawkgirl 

What’s Wrong With This Picture? Finding the good in disliked movies.

1. Ghostbusters II 2. Star Trek Into Darkness

TV/Movie Speculation & Theories 1. The Flash: Who is Zoom? 2. Supergirl: The Secret Tragic Origin of Kara Danvers 3. The Flash: Who was that Masked Man???  4. The Flash: What Has Barry (Un)Done?!? 5. Supergirl: Welcome to Earth-1?  6. Arrow: Who is Vigilante? 7. The Flash: Who is Savitar? 8. Riverdale: The Most Unreliable Narrator?  9. Riverdale: Who Killed Jason Blossom? 10. The Flash: How to Save Iris West 11. Supergirl: What Happened to Mon-El?  12. Is the DCEU Headed for a Crisis? 

TV/Movie Opinions 1. Agent Carter: Don’t Close the File on Peggy Yet  2. Captain America: Bi, Bi, Mr. American Pie? 3. Ghostbusters 2016: I Ain’t Afraid of No Reboot!  4. Arrow Hit the Bull’s-Eye with Real Issues  5. 5 Things I Wish We’d Gotten from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine  6. Fox Should Wait to Recast the X-men’s Logan 

TV/Movie Wish Lists 1. Eleven Things I’d Love to See from Marvel Studios 2. Supergirl Season 2 Wish List 3. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Wish List 4. Arrow Season 5 Wish List 5. The Flash Season 3 Wish List 6. X-men Films Wish List 7. Bring These Shows Back! 8. Power Rangers 2 Wish List 11. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Wish List 12. Supergirl Season 3 Wish List 13. Netflix MCU Wish List (as of 2017) 14. The Flash Season 4 Wish List 15. Arrow Season 6 Wish List 16. Spider-man Films Wish List

Movie Reviews 1. Jurassic World 2. Ant-Man 3. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation 4. Fantastic Four (2015) 5. Goosebumps  6. Spectre 7. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens 8. 10 Cloverfield Lane 9. Deadpool 10. Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice 11. The Jungle Book (2016) 12. Captain America: Civil War 13. X-men Apocalypse 14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 15. Now You See Me 2 16. Independence Day Resurgence 17. Legend of Tarzan 18. Ghostbusters (2016) 19. Star Trek Beyond  20. Suicide Squad 21. Jason Bourne 22. Pete’s Dragon (2016)   23. Doctor Strange 24. Arrival 25. Star Wars Rogue One 26. Passengers 27. Moana 28. Split 29. The LEGO Batman Movie 30. Get Out 31. Logan 32. Hidden Figures 33. Kong: Skull Island 34. Power Rangers (2017)  35. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 36. Wonder Woman 37. Baby Driver 38. Spider-man Homecoming 39. Atomic Blonde 40. IT (2017) 41. Blade Runner 2049

TV Reviews 1. Vixen Season 1  2. Daredevil Season 2  3. iZombie Season 2 4. Sleepy Hollow Season 3 5. Supergirl Season 1  6. The X-Files Season 10  7. Agent Carter Season 2  8. Bates Motel Season 4 9. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 1  10. Arrow Season 4 11. The Flash Season 2 12. The 100 Season 3  13. Person of Interest Season 5  14. Houdini & Doyle Season 1  15. Stranger Things Season 1  16. Amazon Pilot Season: The Tick & Jean-Claude Van Johnson 17. The Get Down (Part 1) 18. BrainDead Season 1 19. Vixen Season 2 20. Luke Cage Season 1  21. Sherlock Series 4 22. Westworld Season 1 23. Scream Queens Season 2 24. The Exorcist Season 1 25. Iron Fist Season 1 26. Timeless Season 1 27. The Good Place Season 1 28. Dimension 404 Season 1 29. Legion Season 1 30. Bates Motel Season 5 31. Riverdale Season 1 32. Sleepy Hollow Season 4 33. Amazon Pilots 2017: Will vs. the Future, Skyward, A Kid Called Mayonnaise 34. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 35. Supergirl Season 2 36. Marvel’s Defenders Season 1 37. The Flash Season 3 38. Arrow Season 5 39. iZombie Season 3 40. The 100 Season 4

Fun Stuff! Homemade Archery Targets Puns Puns 2