1. If you could retroactively erase one TV show from the history of entertainment, which one would you choose? Probably The Simpsons since child abuse is not fucking funny, and it's really triggering for me since my childhood and early adulthood were really as such, albeit mostly emotional.
2. Are you more like your mother or your father? My mother since I can be really evil like she is, but we've both endured our share of trauma.
3. If you could take a year-long vacation, what would you do? Be in a place where I'm far, far away from my asshole family.
4. Can you think of a reason not to answer this question? Huh?
5. What's the nicest thing you've ever done for someone? Take my apartment neighbors on errands.
The second Star Trek animated series since The Animated Series and the franchise's first comedic series, Lower Decks follows the lower-deck crew members of the USS Cerritos during the Next Generation era as they and the vessel's crew get into a series of misadventures across the galaxy, with no overreaching plot in the first season. Notable episodes in season one include a visit by Q, a nuisance in The Next Generation, who poses the relatable question about whether humanity is worth saving, the introduction of an anthropomorphic Federation badge mascot named Badgey, and a pretend-movie spearheaded by Ensign Brad Boimler.
T'Ana definitely gives meaning to the phrase "cranky cat lady."
The second season focuses more on the tense relationship between one of the main characters, Ensign Beckett Mariner, and her mother, Captain Carol Freeman, which I found relatable, and ends with a cliffhanger. Other notable characters include the cranky feline doctor T'Ana, and an intelligent flying robot named Peanut Hamper. The third and fourth season don't have too many notable episodes, but the series overall accomplishes well its aim to get audiences to laugh "with" Star Trek rather than "at" Star Trek. However, there are quite a few violent moments, and I think the constant bleeping of "extreme" profanity was really stupid and unnecessary. Regardless, I will definitely watch the fifth and final season.
Star Wars' Expanded Universe (EU) has been a crucial part of its narrative since its inception, even before the release of the sequel The Empire Strikes Back three years later. This expansion was marked by influential books like Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye and a few spinoff stories featuring the beloved character Han Solo. However, when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, they "rebooted" the EU, invalidating all narrative elements without the original and prequel trilogies; the primary Episodes would be rebranded as the "Skywalker Saga." Three years later, Disney released the first canon entry of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a collaboration between Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company.
Set three decades after Return of the Jedi, the movie introduces a new generation of characters. It revolves around the disappearance of Luke Skywalker after one of his rogue pupils annihilated his fledgling Jedi Order. His twin sister, General Leia Organa, leads the Resistance in defending the New Republic against the First Order, formed from the remnants of the fragmented Galactic Empire. On Jakku, a desert planet like Tatooine, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron discovers a star map of Luke's location. This discovery leads to a chain of events, including the kidnapping and torture of Dameron by Kylo Ren, leader of the Dark Side-following Knights of Ren and successor to Darth Vader. A pivotal character in the narrative is disgruntled stormtrooper FN-2187, renamed Finn, who saves Dameron and escapes via a TIE fighter.
They crash-land on Jakku, escaping on the Millennium Falcon after the First Order begins an airstrike. The legendary vessel's previous owners, Han Solo and his imposing furry friend Chewbacca, discover and board it, dealing with various gangs with which Han had conducted business. Afterward, the film cuts to political maneuvering at the First Order's Starkiller Base, a planet converted into a superweapon (essentially a third Death Star, which the movie acknowledges, albeit capable of destroying entire star systems). Supreme Leader Snoke, who looks like a giant disfigured cross between Lord Voldemort and Gollum (with Andy Serkis ironically voicing the emperor stand-in), gives General Hux the OK to execute the weapon while questioning his apprentice Kylo's capabilities as his enforcer (his reasons unfortunately spoiled to me by some jerkwad online before I saw the film in theaters).
The star map leading to Luke, harbored by the diminutive droid BB-8, is discovered to be incomplete. They travel to the planet Takodana to meet the cantina owner Maz Kanata, who is around a millennium old and offers the Resistance help. Visions of Rey's past and the Jedi Order are revealed when she touches an old lightsaber below the cantina, which she allows Finn to keep. After a riveting speech by General Hux on Starkiller Base, the film's dramatic high point, the superweapon's fury is unleashed on the Hosnian System, home to the New Republic, leaving the Resistance by itself to face the First Order.
The First Order assaults Takodana in search of BB-8, with Kylo also capturing Rey and interrogating her at Starkiller Base. As the superweapon prepares to fire again, the Resistance launches a counterattack, with Han, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrating the base. Kylo is confronted with a vile but heart-wrenching climax, after which the Resistance attempts to destroy Starkiller Base from within, with Rey and Finn confronting Kylo. The film concludes with a cliffhanger showing an aged Luke that ties into the following episode, The Last Jedi. The emotional impact of these events leaves a profound and lasting impression on the audience.
Probably the film's comedic high point, ironically a bit before the emotional climax.
I didn't have many expectations when I watched the movie in theaters, initially released in the previous decade. The trailers did an excellent job masking critical points of the narrative (but again, significant twists had been spoiled for me), and the focus on Luke's disappearance at least surprised me. At first, it felt like a glorified remake of A New Hope (which it often and admittedly is). However, upon rewatching, I found it superior and better written, with the dialogue being nothing short of intelligent, including frequent witty banter, plenty of callbacks and homages to the original trilogy, and one reference to the prequel trilogy ("Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army").
The Star Wars franchise has always excelled in its sociopolitical commentary and themes, and The Force Awakens is no exception. Its chief motif is history repeating itself, freedom and democracy, and their perpetual struggle against tyranny, constantly being in flux. The characters, new and old, excel as always, with many, like Kylo, being very relatable and those like Han having had excellent growth between the original and sequel trilogies. While the sudden invalidation of the original Expanded Universe irritated many, the new canon has been just as enjoyable in many aspects.
Han probably had the best character growth in between the original and sequel trilogies.
However, The Force Awakens bequeaths many of the same issues as its predecessors, chief among them the sheer volume of events that occur offscreen, explained only in the canon books and television series, like C-3PO's red left arm and the existence of the Knights of Ren themselves. Thus, the sudden dump of new characters, settings, and situations during the film's initial release was somewhat problematic, with many books and series slightly filling the narrative gaps since then. There are also weird expressions like "moof-milker" (akin to The Empire Strikes Back's "nerf herder").
Regardless, I enjoyed Episode VII upon my first rewatch, chiefly because it evoked many emotions from me, good and bad, and often hit home hard. I know its reputation has somewhat soured since its initial release, but I felt quite the opposite and think its themes could easily apply to today's world. The characters and writing are superb, with the music and visual effects excelling as they always have throughout the Star Wars franchise. However, it inherits many problems from its predecessors, like the endless events occurring without the films. Even so, I was blown away by the movie when I rewatched it and will happily rewatch the following Episodes and the trilogies before.
I first heard this song in the episode of The Simpsons "'Round Springfield," and I listened to the original playing while sitting in the break area at the local grocery store, so here's the whole song.
I used to watch but became alienated due to things like child abuse (which hits home for me but at a more emotional and psychological than physical level), school violence (in repeating what I said in my previous parentheses), and topical humor (which tends to date fictitious television shows).
(a big shoutout to loganberrybunny for inspiring me to watch this movie)
Based on the 1951 Lerner and Loewe American Western musical of the same name, the 1969 adaptation of Paint Your Wagon stars Lee Marvin as a prospector, Clint Eastwood as an amnesiac whom he recruits as his business partner, and Jean Seberg as one of a Mormon’s wives that he decides to sell to the highest bidder. I first saw this film as a rental in my town’s Blockbuster Video when that chain was still a thing, the title alone piquing my curiosity, the fact Clint Eastwood was in it being one of the sole things I knew about it. The following knowledge I would get about the film came from a brief spoof in The Simpsons episode “All Singing, All Dancing.”
Despite the title, the musical has nothing at all to do with literally painting wagons, with “paint your wagon” being a (very) dated expression meaning “to get things done.” Marvin’s character, Ben Rumson, dubs Eastwood’s “Pardner” as he recuperates, with a new tent town, “No Name City,” emerging when they discover gold. The male inhabitants become lonely from no female companionship until the mentioned Mormon husband comes and sells his wife Elizabeth to a drunken Rumson. A love triangle quickly emerges when Ben leaves his fiancé under Pardner’s care.
The latter portion of the movie involves Rumson and his men scheming to tunnel beneath No Name City to collect gold dust precipitating through the floorboards of saloons from paying customers, the only notable plot detail of which I had heard, courtesy my high school economics class, before I streamed this film. A zealous parson also comes to town in futile attempts to get its residents to abandon their sinful ways. Of course, many musical numbers abound, and while Marvin and Eastwood have never been known for their singing abilities, they did decently, with the former's “Wand’rin’ Star” probably being the high point of the film’s songs.
While I know this film gets its share of criticism, much justified, I found it an entertaining watch, with some initial themes like Rumson putting his business partners first and his apathy towards humanity resounding well with me. Mature content like references to venereal disease and prostitution also get some spotlight. Religious themes are front and center as well, given Rumson’s indifference towards God, the references to Mormonism and polygamy, and the ultrareligious preacher. Much of the film likely didn’t fly well with 1969 moviegoers (though modern audiences would probably find it less offensive than, say, Blazing Saddles). However, I think that time has vindicated it somewhat, and don’t regret seeing it.
Current Mood:amused
Current Music:"Best Things" - The John Cacavas Orchestra
I remember watching the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring the late Gene Wilder back near the end of fourth grade, and it remained an endearing classic in my mind to the point where I rewatched it a few times when it appeared on television the following decades. I never read the Roald Dahl book and maybe saw Tim Burton’s adaptation once a few years after it was released. It’s been a bit of a curse for film adaptations of Dahl’s work to falter financially at the box office as the 1971 movie did (though Burton’s version and this were exceptions).
This prequel serves as a companion piece to both the 1971 film and Dahl’s original novel, starring Timothée Chalamet (whom I know best as Paul Atreides in the latest adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune) as the eponymous fledgling chocolatier, twenty-five years before the events of the first Willy Wonka film. When he returns home, he struggles financially yet finds ways to make ends meet as he grows his chocolate business. An Oompa Loompa named Lofty, portrayed by Hugh Grant like the non-dwarf actors portraying the halflings in the Lord of the Rings films, eventually aids Wonka in his endeavors. Oh, and the film’s a musical.
While I have fond memories of the original Gene Wilder film, I didn’t have any expectations before watching this prequel film but ended up enjoying it. The musical numbers are pleasant, with many original tunes alongside staples of the 1971 movie like “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa Loompa” (with Grant singing a quirky ending credits epilogue for the various characters to its tune). The cast performances are superb, the settings well executed, and the effects brilliant, accounting for an entertaining movie that does the novel and first film adaptation justice.
Had fun doing this one as well. The first image on the first row from the bottom is a reference to the Postman API Platform I've been studying and using in my coding bootcamp, and not spying on an actual postal worker.
I watched the Nickelodeon television channel religiously when I was growing up but eventually outgrew it and moved on to other things as I transitioned into adulthood and started college. As such, I was in the dark about the network’s new programming throughout the first decade after the turn of the millennium, but I eventually heard of Avatar: The Last Airbender as one of their more contemporary cartoons a few years after it premiered on the channel and concluded after three seasons. It wouldn’t be until well into the following decade that I watched the animated series proper.
My first exposure to the Nickelodeon franchise was its first live-action adaptation, The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, previously affiliated with many a supernatural film with surprise twists. I thought it was a decent film, albeit certainly not perfect, even though critics and audiences widely deemed it a cinematic turkey, not solely the fault of Shyamalan, who genuinely liked the cartoon series and wanted to make several films out of the first season, before executive meddling watered down the final product and crammed everything into a single two-hour movie.
Like Disney had been doing the previous decades with their animated film classics, Netflix announced a live-action streaming series adaptation, in the producers’ words, “reimagining.” However, the first season largely follows that of the original series to the letter, albeit with some expansion, focusing on the background before the titular last airbender, Avatar Aang, awakens after a century of frozen slumber. Afterward, he joins others as he attempts to master the four elements while waging war against the adversarial Fire Nation, whose exiled Prince Zuko is especially interested in apprehending Aang.
While I enjoyed the original Nickelodeon cartoon and its respective sequel series, I had a fun time watching the live-action reimagining, which retains the aesthetics of the original and has fitting cast choices, none mercifully nepotistic like in the 2010 film, and stands well on its own. The backstory and mythos are intricate, and there’s plenty of action to keep one from boredom. It’s easily preferable to the live-action adaptation from the last decade, does the animated series justice, and is worth a watch. I will continue to watch it as future seasons are released.
Aimed at younger audiences, this animated addition to the Star Wars franchise occurs during the High Republic era, centuries before the Skywalker Saga films, focusing on fledgling Jedi younglings and beginning with six shorts that twenty-five half-hour episodes, divided into two stories each, follow. Throughout the series, the younglings repeatedly encounter a young pilot who goes by the alias Taborr Val Dorn. I highly enjoyed this series, my first exposure to any of the series content occurring in the High Republic era, and the Jedi youngling Nubs is undoubtedly one of the cutest characters in the franchise.
This Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries follows Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American high schooler who loves the Avengers, specifically Captain Marvel, but has trouble fitting in with society until she discovers her inherent abilities and becomes the eponymous superheroine, with the show ultimately tying in with the MCU film The Marvels. It starts a bit human-interest-centric but gives some decent insight into Islamic society in sync with Disney’s contemporary DEI approach and intensifies in the last few episodes. In brief, I didn’t think it was an excellent series, but I don’t regret watching it and will gladly see The Marvels as my next weekly film.
A prequel series to Seth MacFarlane’s film franchise of the same name, Ted follows the eponymous plush bear, whom MacFarlane voices (in a performance highly resembling that of his character Peter Griffin from Family Guy), is set in 1993-94, following sixteen-year-old John Bennett, Ted’s owner, and his family in Framingham, Massachusetts, with the stuffed ursine joining John in high school. The tone of the series is raunchy and profane, with tons of gratuitous swearing, along with endless crude humor, some being misogynous (but as a male, I find that kind of comedy funny, and a clever term for female-written books will forever live rent-free in my mind). Some political banter about events of the time also occurs, chiefly in the sixth episode, but is even-handed, with some fair points made. Overall, I enjoyed this series with its offbeat, if crude, sense of humor (which somewhat appeals to me as an autistic) and would happily check out the films.
Current Mood:amused
Current Music:MOTHER - "Pollyanna (I Believe in You)" - Catherine Warwick
This Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries is a spinoff of Hawkeye (which I didn’t know until reading the Wikipedia article, and I should have probably watched it first) and follows the deaf Native American Maya Lopez, the eponymous heroine, whom Wilson Fisk, previously featured in Daredevil, pursues. Echo returns to Oklahoma and must reconcile with her past and reconnect with her indigenous roots, family, and community. I wasn't enthralled by this series, given its relative lack of action and higher focus on human (or superhuman) interest. I couldn't easily follow the narrative; it also feels on the woke and DEI side. Overall, I found many other MCU series to be superior.
When I first started watching this live-action science-fiction dramedy on Fox the last decade, I assumed it would be a knockoff of the Star Trek series, but given the repertoire of showrunner Seth MacFarlane, responsible for animated series such as Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, I knew it would be a more lighthearted take on the sci-fi genre. The series opens with up-and-coming Planetary Union officer Ed Mercer, portrayed by MacFarlane, catching his wife, Kelly Grayson, having an affair with an alien, which leads to their divorce. A year later, Mercer receives command of the eponymous spaceship, with Grayson, to his shock, becoming his first officer.
The Orville isn’t shy about its Star Trek inspirations, beginning with its music. The opening credits theme takes inspiration from “Life Is a Dream,” Jerry Goldsmith’s central composition of the first and the fifth Star Trek Original Series films as well as The Next Generation, a similarity more so apparent in the season three remix. The Planetary Union is a nod to the United Federation of Planets from Trek, along with the various alien races, with sundry conflicts erupting throughout the series, chiefly with the Krill, a vampiric and ultrareligious society. The robotic Kaylons, with one of its members, Isaac, serving as a neutral ambassador aboard the Orville, also come into play later.
Other notable crew members include Bortus, a member of the Moclan race with deadpan speech patterns that make for some occasional humor, who mates with Klyden and has a child named Topa, born female, which is rare among their species in their male-dominant society. The episode “About a Girl” focuses on the couple’s decision to change Topa’s gender to male to conform to Moclan society, which hit home to me as an autistic and receives a follow-up in the third season. Another first-season episode, “Majority Rule,” focuses on a twenty-first-century society reigned by upvotes and downvotes, touching upon themes such as the role of social media and public shaming, which parallels modern cancel culture.
The Orville has a pretty good selection of stars, both guest and recurring, aside from Seth MacFarlane. Brian George, who played the Pakistani restauranteur Babu Bhatt in Seinfeld, and various other Indian or Pakistani characters in other media (despite being Israeli), plays a researcher in the first episode. The late Norm Macdonald plays Yaphit, an amorphous blob with a crush on Doctor Claire Finn, and briefly appears in human form thanks to the ship’s Environmental Simulator (which Isaac also uses when he tries to woo Finn). Patrick Warburton plays a long-nosed alien in a few episodes, and Ted Danson recurs as an Admiral in the Planetary Union throughout the entire series.
Overall, I had a great time watching The Orville, which largely avoids the pitfalls of MacFarlane’s animated shows, such as the drawn-out gags and topical references (but there is some sound sociopolitical commentary that never becomes ham-fisted) and strikes a balance between being humorousness and seriousness. I found it an excellent homage and even rival to the various Star Trek series (and it did semi-compete with Discovery upon its original release), which evokes Trek’s feel (musically and aesthetically) while standing well in its own right. I would happily watch future seasons should the series continue and consider it a capstone among Seth MacFarlane's television productions.
This Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming television series occurs after the events of Avengers: Endgame, with actor Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as Loki from the MCU films and being brought to the Time Variance Authority, facing the choice of whether to be erased from existence due to being a “time-variant” or fixing the timeline to stop greater threats. Loki agrees to help them, and in the second season searches through a multiverse for various entities. I enjoyed the series and would continue watching it if it received more seasons. It was a nice touch seeing Ke Huy Quan (best known for childhood roles such as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies) get back into the acting game, with Hiddleston and the other performers such as Owen Wilson doing well also.
The first holiday special based on The Bad Guys serves as a prequel to the film, focusing on the eponymous animal-populated criminal gang as they seek to rob a bank on Christmas on account that most in their city will be celebrating home. At a parade, however, their car accidentally destroys a Santa Claus balloon, causing the city’s holiday mood to plummet to the point where Christmas gets canceled. Thus, they seek to cheer up the residents so they can commit their heist as intended, although they hit some hitches in their plan, and the end doesn't pan out as expected. However, it ties into potential future specials, and I enjoyed the revisit to the world of the Bad Guys overall.
Charles Dickens's classic novella A Christmas Carol likely sets the record for having the most film and television adaptations, among them the 1984 live-action made-for-TV version directed by Clive Donner, starring the late George Campbell Scott as the misanthropic Ebenezer Scrooge, who considers his payment of taxes to the British government his main contribution to society, being a thrifty businessman and not a people-person. Scrooge displays apathy towards the Christmas season at his nephew Fred Hollywell, son of his deceased older sister Fanny, and his current business partner Bob Cratchit, who replaced the long-dead Jacob Marley.
On Christmas Eve, the earthbound specter of Marley visits Scrooge and admonishes him that he will meet a similar fate if he doesn’t change his ways, warning that three spirits will come after midnight. First is the Ghost of Christmas Past, which shows Scrooge in his youth, beginning with his abandonment by his father at a boarding school after his mother died in childbirth. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows him the Cratchit family’s celebration of the holidays, with the disabled Tiny Tim vulnerable to early death, and his married nephew’s festivities. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge that nobody misses him after his demise, some even purloining his possessions, which makes him change his ways.
Overall, I believe this to be the definitive adaptation of Dickens’s story, which is one of few pieces of literature I would term a masterpiece, given that despite being written in the mid-nineteenth century, it’s still readable by contemporary standards (more so than the author’s other works), and has a timeless message that the well-to-do should be more compassionate towards the lesser-privileged and of high character. I have a minor issue with Fred not mourning or bequeathing his uncle’s property in the alternate future where Scrooge dies. However, the central theme, “God Bless Us, Everyone,” is one of the most beautiful pieces of seasonal music ever composed and had me cry happy tears. Very highly recommended.
Rewatched the Amazon Prime television adaptation of Robert Jordan and later Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time saga once the second season came out. It's a great alternative to reading the admittedly verbose novels, and is a beautiful series, although some character depictions are a bit off; for instance, the Ogier are way bigger in the books, and Loial is barely bigger than the human characters. The second season mainly focuses on the search for the Horn of Valere, which I remember from the books. I'll continue watching this.
A prequel to Game of Thrones by about two centuries, focusing on the events leading to the throne succession war known as the "Dance of the Dragons". Pretty much on par with GoT in terms of narrative and content, and definitely only for mature audiences given its adult content, and I'll gladly watch on once the second season has run.
Current Mood:busy
Current Music:The Wheel of Time - "A Taste of Solitude"
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