The Sword and Laser discussion

Finished with The Wheel of Time season 2, which was pretty awesome. Much progress compared to season 1. Amazon finally scored a decent epic fantasy. I am tempted to read the books now.

Silvana wrote: "Finished with The Wheel of Time season 2, which was pretty awesome. Much progress compared to season 1. Amazon finally scored a decent epic fantasy. I am tempted to read the books now."

The first season was "okay" - but your reviews have won me over and I am going to give S2 a try.

BYnars and BADGey and A Is, oh my!

I've been on an anime kick for a few months now. It started with Cowboy Bebop, then Black Lagoon. So far I've seen the following: Yakitori, Gamera: Rebirth, Godzilla: Singular Point, Dota: Dragon's Blood, Altered Carbon: Resleeved, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Hero=Mask. I'm currently watching Skull Island and The Way of the House Husband.
I'm finding the plots and character arcs more moving and compelling than in a lot of live-action shows and movies.

I made a comment to one of my young coworkers about an XFiles episode I recently watched. She told me it was the most GenX thing ever. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, like watch the XFiles I have started season one. Lets do this.

Haaaa, have fun! X-Files started my first year of grad school. I was a late MBA student. I drifted off around S4 and watched scattered episodes. A few great seasons to start but to say the quality fell off would be a major understatement. Hope you enjoy the ride.

Watched the TV series Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber tonight. I don’t know how accurate it was but it was sharply written and constantly engaging. There are a couple scenes that were especially creative, borderline brilliant. And the phone conversation between Arianna Huffington (Uma Thurman, nailing the accent) and Bill Gurley (Kyle Chandler) is hilarious. It’s not very spoilery: https://youtu.be/wW5GUTd-a4s?si=0lKKh...

John (Taloni) wrote: "Haaaa, have fun! X-Files started my first year of grad school. I was a late MBA student. I drifted off around S4 and watched scattered episodes. A few great seasons to start but to say the quality ..."

Funny, each their own. For me it wasn't until about season 4 that if seemed to really find it self as a show, and also seemed to get a pretty good budget. Season 5 had some really great episodes, and so did some of the other seasons. I will say by the end, it had out lived itself. I tended to prefer the really quirky one off's to the main through line episodes. Then again I haven't watched it since back then, so I could be misremembering things.

John (Nevets) wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Haaaa, have fun! X-Files started my first year of grad school. I was a late MBA student. I drifted off around S4 and watched scattered episodes. A few great seasons to start b..."

That was a great show back in the day. It kept people at home on Friday nights like no show since Miami Vice.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "That was a great show back in the day. It kept people at home on Friday nights like no show since Miami Vice."

I think you’re misremembering that. X-Files was never a hit show on Fridays. It did well for Fox compared to other Fox offerings other than The Simpsons, but it never cracked the top 30 until it was moved to Sunday nights where it didn’t have any real competition and rocketed up the ratings That was a couple years after its debut, and even then it was a short-lived blip.

Nowadays networks would kill for those ratings, dismal as they seemed in the 90s, because even the #30 show back then had the same size audience of the so-called “hit” shows of the past decade.

It looks like X-Files peaked at #11 in 1997 with a 17.1 rating soon after it was moved to Sunday. In 2022 that would’ve made it the #1 show. NCIS is the biggest hit show currently, and it only has a 9.8. By comparison, hits like Friends and Seinfeld had ratings peaks of 34. Even football doesn’t hit those highs these days.

X-Files was a great show. I can't say I watched every episode, but I think I saw most of them. But after David Duchovny left, I barely watched it. Despite that, the show's among the pop culture pantheon.

I also saw most of them. Trailed off towards the end but did come back for the movie. And that is when I knew the zeitgeist had moved on. I think I tried the first two eps of one of the miniseries just to be sure it was dead. I agree that it was great for its time, but something just flailed and left it dead. Kind of like what Game of Thrones did.

Trike wrote: "I think you’re misremembering that...."

In my age group (mid-20s then) it was pretty big on Fridays. It probably generated more mainstream appeal once it was moved to Sundays. I seem to recall the budgets went up once it moved to Sundays also.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Trike wrote: "I think you’re misremembering that...."

In my age group (mid-20s then) it was pretty big on Fridays. It probably generated more mainstream appeal once it was moved to Sundays. I seem..."

Yah, I was in college in 1995 and I remember people specifically waiting until it was over to go out to parties. But it was college, so it was normal to go out to parties later anyway. And I agree I think the budgets, and some of the writing went up once they moved to Sundays. And then the Friday slot became the death spot on FOX, since no show could match up to what X-files had become, forgetting what it started as.

Since I've pretty much checked out of Disney+ until they can release something worth watching, I've been trying to catch up on some classic films on my DVR.

The latest one I watched was the 1963 black and white version of Lord of the Flies. For some reason, I was able to skate through middle school without reading this book or seeing the film. I believe my English teacher decided to study The Hobbit instead, which is pretty cool now that I think about it. I need to thank Mr. Hildebrandt someday, if he's still around. He looked a little bit like a hobbit himself, actually.

Anyway, LotF was filmed on a shoestring budget apparently, with non-actor kids, although a couple of them continued acting (one was a Von Trapp kid in "The Sound of Music"). Apparently most of it was unscripted and they just talked to the kids about the scene and then let them do their thing. Dozens of hours of film was cut all the way down to about 90 minutes. Criterion restored the film a few years back and that's the version I saw. Anyway, it was a good watch. And I did finally get around to reading the book a few years back by the way.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "For some reason, I was able to skate through middle school without reading this book or seeing the film."

Same here.
Would you say it is worth reading as an adult?

FWIW I considered reading Lord of the Flies and decided against it. That's largely due to the example of an actual group of boys lost on an island who lived together just fine. Lord of the Flies seems to be more about the dysfunction of the British upper class of the time.

That said, it's considered a classic and isn't long. Any library will have a copy. Reading it wouldn't be the worst thing. For me a guaranteed downer read competes unfavorably with mediocre SF so I know what will get the nod.

John (Taloni) wrote: "FWIW I considered reading Lord of the Flies and decided against it. That's largely due to the example of an actual group of boys lost on an island who lived together just fine. Lord of the Flies se..."

Imagine Boris Johnson, Jeremy Cameron and their classmates trapped on an island.

Wistful sigh.

John (Taloni) wrote: "...Lord of the Flies seems to be more about the dysfunction of the British upper class of the time..."

Note to reader = still dysfunctional

Lower Decks "Cave" story: A stichup of story segments that weren't good enough by themselves to become full episodes. K. I'm no longer all that big on them getting renewed.

Loki: Another talky snoozefest. The actor doing the variant is doing a technically good of acting but I'm not enjoying the performance.

Loki is woefully underpowered for an Asgardian god.

Was fun to see the Chicago World's Fair. That was the best part of the ep.

Only three more to go. Hoping that this endless buildup will lead somewhere.

Aaron wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "For some reason, I was able to skate through middle school without reading this book or seeing the film."

Same here.
Would you say it is worth reading as an adult?"

It depends. If you like reading literature, especially important books that other readers will bring up in discussions, then yes I would recommend reading it. If you like John Scalzi or the Bobiverse and you're looking for more like those, then stay away from it. Lord of the Flies is the anti-Bobiverse.

Jared and Noah are back with a spooky season classic:

https://youtu.be/udwRMWffmjA?si=myt5E...

Crossposting from Discord...

Rewatched the 7th Doctor finale "Survival" on account of seeing an awesome Ace/Cheetah cosplay at the Dr. Who con this weekend. Sylvester McCoy is always funny to watch. The opening credits do this bombastic spacey animation followed by a majestic rotating TARDIS, and then we open to five foot eight McCoy and his nebbishy voice. Well, Time Lords don't have to be Flash Gordon.

So, Survival has Ace wanting to visit her friends in her home town of Percivale. It's a boring suburb but it's home. Her friends have all wandered off while she traveled and there's some odd disappearances. They're being abducted to another planet populated by a humanoid cat race. Well, they're actually transformed humans who hunt and eat humans (ew.) Anyhoo, the guy in the Cheetah outfit was so good he would have fit right in with the cast.

This is essentially the series finale of the classic era. At the end Ace and the Doctor wander off talking about adventures to come. As an ending it is wistful and charming.

Link to pic of the Cheetah dude. I'm not downloading the pic as it has a copyright watermark. I think the FB page is open to all.
https://www.facebook.com/SDcomicfest/...

First ep of Blakes 7, our first attempt at watching this series. Yeah. I know Brits like to start slow but wow. A puzzling mix of Logan's Run, Clockwork Orange and a little bit of Space: 1999. But really very little in the way of space travel. All in murky videotape. I want to say "a bit of Gilliam's 'Brazil'" but that was years later. Maybe this show helped inspire that movie.

Anyhoo we'll go on to the next ep, but I'm still waiting for the awesome. TBH the first ep of Red Dwarf didn't particularly inspire either but they did get to some great episodes fast.

Why is Loki acting like a hero?

Watched Bodies on Netflix. Superb time travel twisty tumult. 5 stars.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/RyZjIPB8paw?si=fKaa0...

Also watched Totally Killer on Amazon tonight. It’s the time travel to the 1980s slasher flick from Blumhouse. It’s way bloodier and violent than I was expecting, but ok otherwise. Basically a lesser version of Happy Death Day (although that one is technically a time loop movie like Groundhog Day). 3 stars.

Finished watching Wheel of Time Season Two on Amazon Prime Video. Big improvement from Season One. Some interesting changes that worked, but some curious changes to the book that I think were due to time constraints. There are only eight episodes in the season, they needed more. Season Two covered mostly The Great Hunt (Book 2 of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan. They plan to cover Book 4 in Season Three. There are some great events in that novel that I hope they recreate well.

Shows coming up that I want to watch are Ahsoka Season One on Disney Plus and Good Omens Season One and Two on Amazon Prime Video.

^ I occasionally wonder what (apparently former) S&Ler Tsedai thinks about the Wheel of Time TV show. In an Orange County meetup some years ago she went off on the half hour "special" done mainly to retain the TV rights. She was a huge fan of the books. I hope she's enjoying the much bigger show.

After Silvana gave the WoT S2 the thumbs up a few weeks ago I watched E1 and enjoyed it so much I polished off the rest of episodes in double quick time.

I found S1 rather lacklustre but the tempo and pacing of S2 was much better; I think in big part that because the "bad guys" showed up and started to "do their thing".

( I am being deliberately vague to avoid spoilers )

There are some changes from the books, but I am mostly okay with the ones I have spotted at as it is a completely different medium.

One thing that hasn't changed though - Rand still gets all the girls.

I guess that is the burden of being "the chosen one".

By my reckoning S2 covers books 2 + 3, so on the basis that 3 books makes 2 series then will be 10 ( ish ) series; that is a lot of TV to look forward to. :-)

Trike wrote: "Watched Bodies on Netflix. Superb time travel twisty tumult. 5 stars.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/RyZjIPB8paw?si=fKaa0..."

I enjoyed Bodies as well except (view spoiler)[ the bad guy being his own ancestor pissed me off. How did the loop ever get started then? He should never have existed in the first place. (hide spoiler)]

Phil wrote: "Trike wrote: "Watched Bodies on Netflix. Superb time travel twisty tumult. 5 stars.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/RyZjIPB8paw?si=fKaa0..."

I enjoyed Bodies as well except [spoilers removed]"

I didn’t mind that part because it’s such a staple of sci-fi. It’s more philosophy than science. (view spoiler)[The ur-example is Heinlein’s All You Zombies, filmed as Predestination with Ethan Hawke. That story is even crazier. (hide spoiler)] The best explanation of time travel in movies comes from Avengers: Endgame: “If you go into the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future!”

In the movie Totally Killer it is also explicitly stated that you don’t disappear if your parents don’t meet. Which is the actual current thinking about time travel, which separates cause from effect. So no Grandfather Paradox. Basically refuting Back to the Future - a movie specifically called out in both movies.

Ah, the "Pet Shop Boys" theory of time travel. "We've got no future, we've got no past, here today, built to last."

In audio format rather than visual, but if you like time-travel stories, October was time-travel month on EscapePod.
I thought The Retcon Man was good (if a little dark), and Driftwood in the Sea of Time was a good palate cleanser given it had a more optimistic resolution (at least that is the way I listened to them, even if they were released in the reverse of that order).
(Apparently, GoodReads won't let me include the links. I keep forgetting about that.)

I'm blathering on about Blakes 7 on Discord if anyone wants to chime in there. Only ask is that you keep spoilers to what I've seen (Currently ep 3.)

Crossposting from Discord about Lower Decks and Loki:

Lower Decks, pretty good season finale and some hilarious in-universe jokes. Coulda sworn that Trynar shield was Tholian inspired. If this is the end of the show, they went out well.

And Loki: Endless talkfest continues. I don't hate it so much as have little reaction either way. Thankfully only one more ep.

I wonder if anyone else is noticing the similarities between the TVA and Asimov's The End of Eternity. Makes me think they'll use a similar ending and (view spoiler)[have Loki go back to the start of it all and undo everything. (hide spoiler)]

I know it's a different genre but I just watched A Haunting in Venice and, like the first two in the series, found it kind of bland. I don't know why I expected more at this point. It reminded me of a lyric from Someone Who's Cool by The Odds; "Close but kind of meatless like actors who play Jesus in movies of the week."
It lacks a spark that elicits any emotion from me. Maybe I'm just dead inside...

My wife is watching that in the other room. There's lots of screaming and agony. I have seen enough death shows to last me. Seems like it's got plenty of audience, but that does not include me.

John (Taloni) wrote: "My wife is watching that in the other room. There's lots of screaming and agony. I have seen enough death shows to last me. Seems like it's got plenty of audience, but that does not include me."

Women will watch six hours of serial killer documentaries and then claim the superhero movie you’re watching is too violent. 😆

^ It's funny because I didn't realize it was a Poirot film. Figured it was her usual death kill scream thing from the audio. Why would a Poirot flick need the murder death agony stuff? Even Murder on the Orient Express was all implied.

Anyway, she put in headphones and I went in with about 20 minutes left. There's Branagh as Poirot. I wonder why he bothers. David Suchet was the definitive Poirot. There's no competition, there isn't even a distant second. Dear Kenneth Branagh: Your Oscar-winning ass is now losing to a TV actor.

Crossblather from Discord:

Blakes 7 S1 Ep 4, "Time Squad." It's easy to see the references on this one. First off 2001 for the docking sequence and recalcitrant AI. (Different reason for that tho which I look forward to learning more about.) Space Seed from Star Trek. Altho perhaps the most funny riff was "Of Mice and Men." Tell us about the rabbits, Gan!

Caught up on Lower Decks season finale and Loki ep. 5. Lower Decks was solid. I liked the back and forth about whether the guy looks like Tom Paris. “They have the same face!” “I don’t see it.” Loki finally coalesced. Should’ve happened earlier than Episode 5 of 6, but it’s fine. Turns out I’m not much of a fan of Jonathan Majors’ acting, because I didn’t miss him at all.

However, I watched the first two episodes of Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix and it is SPECTACULAR. This is some of the best animation I’ve seen in a while, and the direction is top notch. Plus the story is compelling. The fight between Blue Eye and Taigen is among the best I’ve ever seen. Great choreography, excellent direction.

They put the first episode on YouTube (might only be available in the US): https://youtu.be/Cm73ma6Ibcs?si=Pyl-Z...

Trike wrote: "They put the first episode on YouTube (might only be available in the US)"

It is available here. So no geo-blocking.

I have Blue Eye Samurai on my watch list. I love a good anime. The animation looks amazing.

Glad to hear it has your tick of approval.

Thank you, and Trike for the input on Blue Eyed Samurai. I saw the trailer on Netflix last night. I'm currently watching The Vinland Saga, Season 2. I've been on an anime binge this whole year. I'll watch Blue Eyed Samurai next.

I'll have to catch the 2nd animated Spiderman on Netflix.

Tamahome wrote: "I'll have to catch the 2nd animated Spiderman on Netflix."

It is on Prime in Oz.

I just finished watching it. Bummed that it ends on a cliffhanger and we have to wait 2 years to see the end of it.

Not genre but I just finished Full River Red (the latest Zhang Yimou film, like Fargo set in the Song dynasty) and Argentina 1985 - both are excellent.

Will check out Loki S2 next.

John wrote: "After Silvana gave the WoT S2 the thumbs up a few weeks ago I watched E1 and enjoyed it so much I polished off the rest of episodes in double quick time.

I found S1 rather lacklustre but the tempo..."

glad you enjoyed it. and Rand getting the girls since he also changed his hair which made him looked better. haha. Anyway, would like to see how they will handle the harem (?) aspect from the novels - seem like he's getting it on with many,

Well. Loki managed an insane level of quality in the final ep. Riffed on Thor themes that go back to the 60s. Helluva a finale. After I've processed a bit I may get into some of them, but the biggest is (view spoiler)[why the hell Odin put up with his crap for so long. He was destined to do this, to hold the Multiverse together. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not crazy, am I? (view spoiler)[He's holding Yggdrasil together on that throne, isn't he? (hide spoiler)]

@ John (Taloni) No, I don't think you're crazy. I had the exact same thought.

Chris K. wrote: "@ John (Taloni) No, I don't think you're crazy. I had the exact same thought."

Yup that's the first thing I thought too.
And yes, the finale was beautiful. It brought a tear to my eye.