2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. So today I'm going to be reviewing the 2003 sequel to The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious. It was an interesting watch that's for sure. There probably won't be any spoilers, but if there are, this is your spoiler warning. So let's get into it!

The reason The Fast and the Furious was enjoyable for me to watch is because of the characters and the family feel they had. 2 Fast 2 Furious is severely lacking in that department. Apart from Brian, played once again by Paul Walker, the only character from the first movie to appear in this one is Bilkins, who was Brian's boss in the last one, played by Thom Barry. Everyone else is brand new.

I think this is a pretty good cast. While Tyrese Gibson is mostly known for his music, particularly at the time, I know him for his role as Sergeant Epps in Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). Eva Mendes was in alot of movies in the 2000s and early 2010s though she hasn't been seen in anything since 2014 outside of a TV role on an Australian animated series in 2021. She was Will Smith's co-star in Hitch (2005) and Nicholas Cage's co-star in Ghost Rider (2007), which are the two movies I know her from. The rest of the cast are people I'm not familiar with, aside from Ludacris, though I've never listened to his music, and Mark Boone Junior, who played Detective Flass in Batman Begins, only two years after this movie came out.

There really isn't a whole lot to talk about when it comes to the story. It felt more like a Jason Bourne or a mid-'90s to early 2000s James Bond movie with the action taking center stage for the movie.

While I do like that there are some parallels between Brian in the first movie and Eva Mendes's character in this movie, the writers didn't do enough with those parallels to really warrant their inclusion in the movie. Aside from Brian and Roman suggesting to James Remar's character, Agent Markham, that maybe Monica, Eva's character, had flipped, which means turned, like Brian did at the end of the first movie, and Markham immediately shooting down their suggestion, nothing is done with the parallels between Monica and Brian. Which is disappointing for me, because that could've been a good way to have Brian deal with him letting Toretto go at the end of the first movie without over-relying on the events of the first movie to fuel the events of this movie.

I do enjoy the chemistry between Walker and Gibson in this movie though. Roman Pearce was Brian's best friend growing up, but he got in trouble with the law after Brian became a cop, and blamed Brian for it simply because Brian was a cop. What I like about this is that, it does tie Brian to that familial connection that he had with Mia and Dom Toretto in the first movie, even if it's a very thin connection. And Walker and Gibson work extremely well together, which I love.

2 Fast 2 Furious was released on June 6th, 2003 and despite it making more money than the first movie, people didn't like it as much as the first, particularly the critics. And I think that's because the whole family aspect that was a huge part of the first movie is pretty much absent from this one. Everything else is there, but that aspect, the one that makes the characters feel more like real people that you might meet at some point in your life, is gone and not everyone who went to see this movie, anticipating something similar to the first one, is going to see it just for the action, the cars, and the beautiful people. They want that personal struggle that Dom and Brian went through in the first movie and it's just not there. It still made a decent amount of money considering the "human factor" just wasn't there.

I honestly don't have much else to say about this movie. It was good, but I like the first movie better. It's just not as strong in the character department and, if I were watching this movie for the first time without having seen the first one, I wouldn't care about any of these characters at all. But because I've seen The Fast and the Furious and am already invested in Brian as a character because of that movie, he's the only one I actually care about in this movie. I'm still looking forward to watching Tokyo Drift even though I've heard that it's the worst entry in this franchise.

That my friends is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with another blog post. I'm about halfway through reading Star Wars: Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, so that is probably going to be my next review. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Nostalgia For the 2000s?

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty great. I spent time with one of my best friends this weekend, watching Anime, and YouTube videos of old commercials that aired on YTV in the '90s. And because I've known my friend for over twenty years, I got to thinking about the 2000s and realized that I have alot of nostalgia for that decade. So let's get into it.

For the last ten years nostalgia for the '80s and '90s have been a major thing with shows like The Goldbergs and movies like Goosebumps (2015), and has come to a crescendo with season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, and That '90s Show. I'm a '90s kid as all of my earliest memories come from the early '90s and alot of my favourite music, movies, TV shows, comic books, novels, and video games come from the '90s as well, but I have a bit of a soft spot for the 2000s, when I was in middle school, high school, and college, as well. 

Putting aside all of the bad stuff that happened in the 2000s, like 9/11 and things like school shootings, the 2000s was the first step in the creation of the modern world in terms of geek culture, and just entertainment in general. The 2000s saw the rise of superhero and comic book based movies being profitable for the first time, even though superhero movies had been around since the movie serials of the 1940s and TV had adapted comic books since the dawn of Television in the '50s. Movies like X-Men (2000), Spider-Man (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and Iron Man (2008) were made possible because filmmaking technology had slowly been advancing since the early '90s when Steven Spielberg and Industrial Light & Magic were developing the computer technology required for Jurassic Park (1993). 

At the same time Star Wars was really coming into its own as a franchise. While the prequels ended in 2005 with the release of Revenge of the Sith, the writers, comic book artists, and video game developers were finally able to tell stories set in the prequel era, an era of the Star Wars timeline that had been closed to Expanded Universe creators due to George Lucas getting ready to make the movies in the '90s. Sure these stories had to take place in between the movies, and initially weren't allowed to tackle the Clone Wars since the conflict was going to start in Episode II, but a whole new setting had been opened up to not only the writers and artists telling these stories but to us, the fans, as well. While I don't care for The New Jedi Order (1999-2004) as much as other people do, some of my favourite Star Wars novels like Cloak of Deception (2001), Labyrinth of Evil (2005), Outbound Flight (2006), and Death Star (2007), which takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, were all published in the 2000s.

On top of that you had the franchise expanding into Television for the first time since it had dabbled in it with Droids and Ewoks in the '80s, with two shows that focused on the Clone Wars between Episode II and Episode III. The first was a micro-series called Star Wars: Clone Wars with episodes that functioned as interstitial between standard cartoons and aired from 2003 to 2005. It was a 2-D animated series created and produced by Genndy Tartakovsky, who had produced shows such as Samurai Jack (2001-2004), and The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2005). The second was a 3-D animated series called Star Wars: The Clone Wars which aired from 2008 until 2013 before returning for a sixth season on Netflix in 2014 and again for a seventh season which aired on Disney+ in 2020. Developed by Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars was basically the blueprint for what Star Wars would be on Television, in both animation and live-action, for many years to come. Without the prequels and all of the novels, comic books, and video games that came out in the 2000s, Star Wars probably wouldn't exist the way it does today.

Even though Star Trek was still going in the 2000s, its popularity had diminished among casual fans and general audiences, and shows like Voyager didn't do as well in the ratings as The Next Generation had during its first run syndication from 1987-1994. Despite that though I honestly really enjoyed Enterprise (2001-2004). Especially the first couple of seasons, which focused on the exploration aspect of Star Trek which is the big reason many people are fans of the franchise. 

Video games got a huge boost in the 2000s as well. While the GameCube further developed what the N64 had started with 3-D graphics, both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox expanded video game console storytelling capabilities with Sci-Fi epics such as Halo, which started in 2001, and Mass Effect, which started in 2007. In fact some of my most cherished video game memories happened in the 2000s when I played against Brad on Halo for the Xbox, on top of playing against other friends on the N64.

As for comic books, Marvel started to get more exposure thanks to the movies coming out in the 2000s and DC was putting out some really strong stories. I wasn't reading Marvel Comics in the 2000s, but my love of the larger DC Universe, outside of Batman, started here with random issues of Superman, The Flash, and JLA. But I gained deeper love for the Bat Family characters such as Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, and Batgirl during Grant Morrison's original 2006 to 2010 run on Batman and the post-Final Crisis shuffle of characters that happened in 2009. 

Outside of geek culture though, many other TV shows and movies came out that were extremely popular. Including shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-2014), Radio Free Roscoe (2003-2005), and renegadepress.com (2004-2008), which I talked about last week. It was also the age of the Disney Channel Original Movie, and many Nickelodeon comedies like Zoey 101, ICarly, and Victorious among others.

This was also the age where people really started to understand how movies were made thanks to the advent of the DVD in the late '90s and the studios starting to release movies on the format, complete with indepth bonus features, including behind the scenes documentaries and commentaries where people could listen to the people who made the movie talk about said movie while you watch the movie. I really feel that had VHS not taken a backseat to DVD, and then Blu-ray later on, not as many people would be major film fans today, since very few people could afford Laserdiscs, which contained such bonus features long before DVDs were invented, and VHS just didn't have the capacity to have too many bonus features without putting out Deluxe Edition tapes or accompanying bonus tapes.

For me personally though, the 2000s was about making friends and growing up as a person. Some of my closest friends today were made when we were all in high school together. And while we're all adults now, when we get back together, we're just as silly now as we were back then. And that is an extremely rare thing. 

That's gonna be it for me for tonight. I barely scratched the surface of what I love about the 2000s, but this is what I wanted to talk about today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of the 2003 sequel to The Fast & the Furious (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Archie Comics's "The New Riverdale" (2015-)

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. So today I'm going to talk about the revamp that Archie Comics did of its Riverdale titles in 2015. It's not a review, it's simply a discussion on the series overall. I plan on doing reviews of the comics themselves at some point. So let's get into it.

In 2015, Archie Comics had stagnated with Archie and the gang having been in publication for 74 years. While the artwork had changed and in story clothing, language, and technology had changed over the decades, the stories and characters had not. New characters, like Kevin Keller, Toni Topaz, Raj Patel had been introduced in the 2000s, but Archie still hadn't chosen between Betty and Veronica, Jughead was still eating burgers, Pop was still selling food at the Choklit Shoppe, Reggie was still after Midge despite getting his ass handed to him by Moose, Veronica was still playing referee between Archie and her father, Hiram, and Betty was still the girl next door.

The company had attempted to update the look of the characters and do slightly more dramatic storylines with the "Dynamic New Look" line in 2007, though that update was confined to the Double Digest books and didn't last beyond 2008 as the company had discontinued the series after six story arcs had been published.

Finally, four years after DC Comics launched The New 52 reboots, Archie Comics published a new #1 issue for the company's flagship title, Archie (formerly known as Archie Comics), written by Mark Waid, who is well known for his long runs on iconic comic book series such as The Flash, with art by Fiona Staples, known for being the artist on Brian K. Vaughn's Sci-Fi opera, Saga, published by Image Comics. One of the major differences is that Waid introduced serialized storytelling to the Archie Universe, something that had been mostly absent from the comics, outside of a few major story arcs like "Archie Meets Glee", and "Love Showdown", as well as out of continuity stories.

While Jughead, Betty & Veronica, Reggie, and Josie & the Pussycats all got new series based on the revamp between 2015 and 2016, none of them had any impact on the main Archie title, and vice versa. And because Archie has always been the company's flagship/main title, anything that happens in that series is pretty much canon, with the side books often being one offs or simply get ignored. Which is fine because, if you've been reading my blogs long enough, you know that I find it much easier to keep up with a comic book character if I only have one book to deal with. So while I enjoyed the first couple of issues of all of these spin-off books, the fact that I just had to buy the six trade paperbacks that made up Mark Waid's run on Archie to get the whole story made me, and my wallet, very happy.

After this revamp had been announced, I'd planned on keeping up with the series, as by that point Brad and I were still going to the comic book store on a pretty regular basis, and with the series starting with a brand new #1 issue, I figured I could keep going with it monthly for as long as I felt I was able to do. Sadly, after only three issues, I ended up dropping off the book due to life circumstances that changed things in December, 2015. Luckily, the trades came out fairly quickly AND were consistently available at Chapters, so I bought them as they were released, keeping up with the story that way. I think I was only late on the last two trades, because, again, life stuff was happening. 

Honestly, I think this revamp needed to happen. Don't get me wrong, I love classic Archie comic stories, which are still being published in the Digests, but other comic book companies had moved on to the serialized format in the late '80s with stories like Batman: Year One and A Death in the Family. Well, DC had. Marvel had basically been serialized since the Fantastic Four was first created in the early '60s in that while you could read an issue on its own, every issue mattered within the story of that particular character. So like every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man mattered within the life of Peter Parker. Every issue of Daredevil mattered in the life of Matt Murdock. But issues of Archie's various comic book series had always been either several short stories published in a single issue, or a single longer, one and done story in every issue, dating all the way back to the '40s when the characters were first created, without very much real continuity. In fact the only real touchstones for the classic Archie series is when a brand new character is introduced. So I was, and am, all for the Archie books having this revamp.

Granted Mark Waid's series is definitely more late '90s/early 2000s teen drama than '50s-2000s teen sitcom, and that continues in Nick Spencer's run. I don't mind that as much though, just because the drama isn't WB/CW level stupid the way it ended up becoming on Riverdale, which is actually on The CW. Yet, the comic is refreshing, and unlike Riverdale, keeps the essence of who these characters are. Even though there's more drama, the comedy is still there, and Archie is still Archie, Betty is still Betty, Veronica is still Veronica, Jughead is still Jughead and so on. Which is why I enjoy this series so much.

I'm planning to eventually review all 32 issues of Mark Waid's run on Archie because I want to talk about the characters and stories more indepth than I've been able to do here. I want to do it in a way that I've never been able to do with any DC title, even during the New 52 era. Because while Archie's history is still there, none of it matters for this series. Even going into Nick Spencer's run on the book, when the title resumed its legacy numbering for each issue, it's a new starting point and it's great. I love Archie Comics, and I don't think it gets talked about enough. I certainly don't talk about it enough on here. Archie Comics is slice of life, as Anime fans refer to it as, and fits right in the mold of what I was talking about with TV shows the other day and how, sometimes you just need a series about average people without the high concept conceits that genre fiction gives us. That goes for comic books as well as TV shows.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I might be back to tomorrow for another post, but I'm honestly not sure at this point. I won't be back on Friday because I'm going to a friend's place for the weekend after lunch and won't be back until sometime on Sunday. So if I'm not back for a blog post tomorrow, I hope you all have a great weekend and I will talk to you all next week. Until then take care. 

Sometimes, It's Good to Have A TV Show Without Any Genre Conceits

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was okay. It was nice and quiet. Today I'm going to talk about an interesting subject. That it's okay to have a TV show without any genre conceits, be it mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, western, or musical. Because the non-genre shows can be just as valuable as any episode of Star Trek or any superhero/comic book based show. And I don't mean heightened teen dramas like The O.C. or One Tree Hill. I mean, apart from a few shows like Batman (1966-1968), Star Trek (1966-1969), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993-1995), and basically every cartoon I ever watched, the vast majority of TV shows that I watched were slice of life. Especially in my teen years, where genre shows were almost non-existent. Or just weren't airing on channels that I got on the TV in my bedroom. 

Besides Smallville (2001-2011), The O.C. (2003-2007), and One Tree Hill (2003-2012), which I like to call the more heightened teen dramas, with one of them being a comic book based series, and the other two being created by people who have pretty crazy imaginations, I watched alot of quieter teen dramas and comedies when I was in my teens. While I didn't watch it from the very beginning, only catching up on it in reruns, Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-2014) was a show that I liked alot for the show's first seven seasons, because it dealt with alot of modern issues that many teenagers were facing in high school at the time. Though I do feel that the show was a bit too preachy at times, coming down a little too much on one particular side of certain issues.

But there were other teen shows that I watched when I was a teenager that weren't as over the top with the drama. Like Radio Free Roscoe (2003-2005), which is a Canadian series centered around an underground radio station run by a group of teenagers as an alternative to the administration run school radio station, which pretty much is in favour of the popular kids, while leaving out those of us who aren't interested in the same music, events, and news that the popular kids are. There was drama, but because it aired on Family Channel here in Canada, and on The N in the U.S., it couldn't tackle any of the heavier issues that teens faced at the time. Though it still covered romantic relationships, friendships, school, homework, and parents. There's another Canadian show that started around the same time that RFR was on called renegadepress.com (2004-2008), which was a halfway point between Degrassi: The Next Generation, and the Degrassi franchise as a whole, and RFR. 

According to the show's Wikipedia page, it dealt with the heavier issues like sex, and all the pros and cons that go with it, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, and doing stupid and maybe even dangerous things just to fit in. I've never watched it because it wasn't on a channel that we got in my house. I mention it though because Lorne Cardinal, who played police officer Davis Quinton on Corner Gas (2004-2009), which was also on at the same time, is in the show as the father of one of the main teen characters, Jack, and Tatiana Maslany plays a recurring role in the second season. And according to the cast list on Wikipedia, Ephraim Ellis, who played Rick Murray on Degrassi: The Next Generation, is a recurring character as well. I discovered the show when I was looking up Tatiana Maslany's filmography when She-Hulk was on. It's on YouTube as very few Canadian teen shows get more than a couple of episodes released on DVD. Degrassi is the exception in most of its incarnations, except for Degrassi: Next Class (2016-2017) which was the more modern show in the franchise. So I'm gonna watch it at some point, just to see what it's like. 

The reason I mentioned those shows is that sometimes it's good to have a show like renegadepress.com, Radio Free Roscoe, and Degrassi. Even these shows can make as much of a difference in the lives of a teenager facing similar situations, whether it's something heavy like drug and alcohol abuse, or something as mundane as trying to get better grades at school as shows like Smallville can be. Oftentimes I feel like the messages about any stuff that regular teens go through on a daily basis is lost when it gets done on a superhero show like Smallville and Stargirl simply because, like the comics they're adapting, or being inspired by, the focus is on the superhero stuff, not on the average teen stuff. Even on Superman & Lois, where most of the focus is on the more domestic side of things, alot of the regular teenager stuff with Jordan and Jonathan is either connected to Jordan's powers, or gets pushed to the side in favour of the Superman stuff. Especially once you get to the end of each season.

And unfortunately the heightened teen dramas like The O.C., One Tree Hill, 90210 (2008-2013), and Glee (2009-2015), usually end up glorifying the behaviour of the main characters, even if that's not their intention because for the most part there aren't any severe consequences for their actions, and oftentimes these shows aren't completely serialized, so they only get in as much trouble as the storyline requires so that they can move onto other things in the next episode. Whereas Spinner, Sean, Emma, Paige, Jimmy, and even Toby's actions, or inactions, that led up to the school shooting in season 4 of Degrassi: The Next Generation had lasting consequences for all of those characters to varying degrees for the rest of their time on the show. Particularly Spinner and Jimmy. 

Even though RFR didn't deal with the more heavy subjects like Degrassi and renegadepress.com did, the stuff it did deal with was still important, in my opinion anyway. Friendship, romance, school, and fitting in are just as important as sex, drug and alcohol abuse, and racial issues. I mean I was an extremely insecure person when I was a teenager, I still am as an adult, but, seeing characters on TV deal with some of the things I was dealing with at the time, made me feel less anxious about most of it. Of the three shows I've been talking about, only Degrassi has ever done episodes about disabilities, both physical and mental, like autism, heart conditions, and permanently being in a wheelchair.

As much as I love superheroes, they aren't real and many of them can't exist in the real world because of their superpowers. And so it's a little bit harder to believe that those characters deal with the same problems that you or I might. Which is why I think it's good to not always do genre shows, but do ones that are more based in the real world, and dealing with issues that we CAN deal with without the help of Superman, Captain America, or the Power Rangers. Sometimes you need an episode about two best friends who are in love with each other, but are afraid that they'll ruin their frienship by taking things further, or just don't know how to go about telling the other person how they feel. Sometimes you need an episode about a character getting their driver's license and their first car. And sometimes, you just need a show to tell you that you will be okay, even if it doesn't feel like you will be during hard times. 

That's why I feel that it is important for shows like Radio Free Roscoe, renegadepress.com, Degrassi, and even The Goldbergs to exist, because it gives a different perspective on things that most genre shows either gloss over or give to us in a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Horror coating where the message is lost because of all the spectacle that each of those genres carry with them. Not saying that genre fiction is bad, far from it, but sometimes you need either a direct approach, or at the very least, a different approach. And sometimes you just need the Enterprise to fight a squadron of Klingon ships, or Superman to swoop in to save the day, or Din Djarin and Grogu to rescue the Mandalorians from a giant Lizard Turtle, or Tyrion Lannister to plead for his life to Lady Arryn at the Eyrie in the Vale.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'm going to try and be back soon for a review of some kind, but things have been hectic lately and I'm getting ready for a weekend away, so we'll see what happens. But until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegadepress.com 

The renegadepress.com IMDB Page

Superman & Lois Season 3, Episode 1, "Closer" (2023) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm here to talk about the season premiere of Superman & Lois season 3, "Closer". Not alot happened in the episode but there's still some things for me to talk about and it will be spoiler free, for the most part. Any spoilers I do give will be for things established last season. And that ended a year ago. So let's get into it.

Unlike previous season premieres of this show, this episode focused more on the more intimate character stuff than the larger action sequences, Superman stuff, and potentially larger DC Universe stuff. There's still a Superman fight in the episode, but unlike previous season premieres, it happens at the end of the episode, not closer to the beginning. So I appreciated that.

The reason I appreciated a quiet episode is because, we haven't seen these characters in a year, and it's nice to get a reminder of who they are, and what their relationships are with one another. Which most superhero shows don't do these days. I mean we got to see where Lois, Clark, Jonathan, Jordan, Sarah, Lana, Kyle, Chrissy, John Henry, and Sam Lane are following the events of season 2. It was also a reintroduction to Jonathan Kent though, since the original actor left the show at the end of last season and got replaced this season. I'm just glad they didn't try to come up with a lame explanation as to why he looks completely different, because nine times out of ten it doesn't make any sense.

I'm very glad that Lana was written better in this episode than she had been for most of season 2. The way she reacted to Clark revealing to her that he's Superman, while realistic, isn't the way this Lana would react to something like that. It's how Lana would've reacted on Smallville, 20 years ago, but not the way she'd react on this show. She's great as the mayor of Smallville though. 

Most of the episode is taken up by Jordan and Jonathan's birthday party, which was fun to see. I still love seeing Jordan and Sarah interacting with each other. I'm also glad the writers are backing off on the romance between them, because, they work much better as friends. I mean their romantic relationship was fine in the first season, but once Jordan's secret starts interfering in his relationship with Sarah, it kinda just stopped working altogether. So I'm glad they didn't run it into the ground like they did with Clark and Lana's relationship in the first eight seasons of Smallville. Of course there's always the possibility that they'll get back together by the end of the season, but I kinda hope that Jordan meets someone new, the way Jonathan did after he and Tegan broke up between seasons 1 and 2.

So far the villain for the season, Bruno Mannheim, the supposed leader of Intergang, isn't exactly interesting me the way Morgan Edge/Tal-Rho did in season 1, and Ally Allston did in season 2. Mainly because we've had him so many times on these shows between Superman: The Animated Series, Smallville, and Young Justice, plus Intergang's involvement in things happening on Supergirl, plus we're getting a new Lex Luthor at some point this season too, and Lex is almost always a far more interesting villain in any DC Comics based TV show or movie than any other villain the show could throw at us. Though I do like that Mannheim is played Chad L. Coleman, who showed up as Tobias Church in season 5 of Arrow, and has played Bortus's mate, Klyden, on The Orville for all three seasons of that show. He's always a good casting choice so I'm at least interested to see what he does with the character, since he was only introduced at the end of the episode, so we didn't get to spend any real time with him in this episode. So we'll see how that works out, but I'm not expecting anything from this character, whom I have no experience with in the comics. But at least the actor playing him is always fun to watch on screen.

There's more I could talk about, but at this point we don't really have much of a plot for the season yet, so I can't really talk about much outside of saying, "We'll have to see what the season brings us". Because that's really all I can say right now. Particularly when it comes to the bad guys for this season. Regardless, this was a pretty good start to the season. I've been waiting for Superman & Lois to return since season 2 ended last year. I hope it gets renewed for a fourth season, but between James Gunn working on a new Superman movie that's due to come out in 2025 and the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery has been cancelling all of the DC Comics based shows on both The CW and HBO Max, I don't expect it to be renewed.

And that my friends is going to be it for me for today. I might be back tomorrow with another blog post, but I don't know for sure. And I do post something tomorrow, I don't know what it's going to be yet. So we'll see what happens. But until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The VHS Corner: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Collector's Edition "Encounter at Farpoint" (1990/1991)

 Hey everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was good. I was out with Brad on Friday at a flea market and I bought a ton of VHS tapes while I was out, including the one I'm here to talk about today. If you read the title of this post you know which one it is, but, I'm also revamping the VHS Corner to be about the tapes that I currently own. I'll still talk about the ones I used to own from time to time, but it's obviously easier to talk about the ones I own than ones I don't. And that includes the digitized Teddy Ruxpin tapes I have, as well as others I think of. Today though I'm talking about a very special tape. It's the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint" from the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Collector's Edition series that came out between 1991 and 1996, though the packaging is dated 1990. So let's get into it.

This tape is the first Star Trek thing that I ever owned on VHS when I was a kid. My grandmother got it for me through the Columbia House Video mail-in offer program. This is how I remember watching "Encounter at Farpoint" for the first time since I was nine months old when the episode originally aired back in 1987, and Nana hadn't picked up the Paramount Home Video retail release yet, which we'd kept at her and Grandpa's house. Of course, like with the rest of our VHS tapes, my parents got rid of this one about ten to thirteen years ago. So you can imagine how shocked and thrilled I was when I came across this tape while I was out with Brad on Friday. They had three rows of these tapes, but I only picked up this one, because it's the one that means the most to me.

Naturally, as soon as I got home and got my new acquisitions unpacked and put away, I put this tape on and as the Columbia House Video score played and the logo came on the screen, I was filled with nostalgia for watching this tape when I was a kid. Sometimes on an endless loop, depending on how many times my mom let me watch it. One thing I noticed, particularly in comparison to the episode on the season 1 DVD boxset is that the black screen after the title sequence is shorter on the VHS tapes than it is on the DVD. I don't actually know why that is but I do have a theory. I think that on the VHS it's just the single fade to black and then fade into the episode, but on all of the DVDs the episode appears on, and most likely the Blu-rays too, they include a separate fade in almost as if it was the broadcast version, where there'd have been a commercial break between the title sequence and the start of the episode. Because the shorter black screen is also on the Paramount Home Video retail VHS release. But, like I said, it's just a theory as I haven't been able to find any information on this. It's just something I first noticed when I first watched the episode on the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Q DVD set about fifteen years ago, while I was in college, and then I noticed it again when I got the season 1 DVD set back in 2009 or 2010.

The packaging is a bit misleading. Like all of the Columbia House Video TV show VHS releases, the TNG tapes all have the same packaging, even if the episodes on the tape are from other seasons. So the front cover with the season 1 looks for all the characters on the front is fine for the season 1 episodes, but is misleading for the rest of the seasons. Especially since Tasha Yar is killed off at the end of the first season, Doctor Pulaski replaced Doctor Crusher for a season in season 2, and Wesley Crusher leaves the show partway through the fourth season. Not to mention Worf's hair gets longer as the show goes on, both he and Geordi La Forge get gold uniforms when they moved from the Command Division to the Operations Division, Riker gets a beard, they all get new uniforms, and Troi gets a new look almost every season. Same with the back cover, which shows Picard and Riker from season 1, and Data (or is it Lore?) in the Operations Divison Engineer's coverall uniform rather than his standard duty uniform, and screenshots from "Lonely Among Us" (the main cast on the Bridge), and "Hide & Q" (Geordi hiding behind a boulder on an alien planet). That's how the packaging looks for all seven seasons of the show. At least the packaging for the Original Series Collector's Edition releases have screen shots from whatever episodes are actually on the tapes. I've never seen these releases for DS9 or Voyager in person, but from what I've seen of the packaging on EBay, they also include the corresponding screenshots with whatever episodes are on the tapes. So I don't get why the TNG line didn't have that. Don't get me wrong, I love the cover art for this tape, afterall it's nostalgic, but, they could've done a better job with the packaging after season 1.

What's interesting about this release is that, according to Memory Alpha, the original version of the tape had the episode split up into two parts, the way it's aired on TV since it first re-aired following the premiere. If I remember correctly, the episode was cut right after Q appears on the viewscreen and tells Picard that he and the crew have 24 hours to solve the mystery of Farpoint Station or they'll fail the test and be sentenced to death, or "summary judgement" as Q put it. Anyway, Gene Roddenberry himself requested that Columbia House Video re-released the tape with the episode in its original 92 minute (2 hours with commercials) version, and the two part version was taken out of circulation. Any time I've come across this tape, between other people showing it off online, and my own copies, including the one I got on Friday, it's been the original 1987 premiere version rather than the rerun version, though both on the spine and on the back of the cassette box, it lists the episode as "Encounter at Farpoint Part I" and "Encounter at Farpoint Part II". But that's probably because they didn't have time to change the labels on the box. It might also explain why the packaging copyright is dated 1990 rather than 1991, when the tape is shown to have been released. 

Of course, "Encounter at Farpoint" isn't a great episode, but it's one I enjoy alot. I really like the slower paces of the pilot episodes for TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, because it gave me, as a member of the audience, time to get to know these new characters a little bit before seeing them in action. Particularly in TNG, since the cast had to live up to Shatner, Nimoy, and the others from TOS, and DS9, where the characters are more nuanced. This episode also shows us who Picard is from the moment the Q energy barrier appears until the very end where he's figuring out WHY the alien "ship" was attacking the Bandi city on Deneb IV, but was careful not to hit Farpoint Station.

Unfortunately Tasha Yar, Worf, Geordi La Forge, and Doctor Crusher don't have a whole lot to do in this episode. Worf is understandable since he was a last minute addition to the episode, as his character wasn't in Roddenberry's original concept for the show. Which is hard to believe since Worf is such a beloved character now. The rest though, it really comes down to Tasha just not being given anything to do in the whole season up to the episode, "Skin of Evil", where she was killed off. La Forge and Crusher are a puzzle though. I mean, sure they were introduced much later in the episode, but so was Riker, and Riker does alot in this episode. He is the First Officer afterall, but, I guess it was a chance for the writers to establish that Picard and Crusher have a history together, though we won't find out until later in season 1 that Crusher's late husband, Jack, was Picard's closest friend, and he was there when Jack and Beverly met. 

I'm always surprised at how sinister Q is in this episode. After this, he becomes much more of a comedic character, particularly once we get into the later seasons of TNG, as well as the episodes of Voyager he appears in. But here he's downright villainous, which is kind of what he became again in season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. John De Lancie played Q so well in all of his appearances, but he does extremely well in this episode, where he's going toe to toe with Picard for the first time. Especially in the courtroom scene. Which is actually a pretty intense scene. I also find it interesting that in subsequent episodes, Picard keeps claiming that Q promised never to appear again when he disappeared at the end of this episode. Except, he didn't. He told Picard that he "will not promise never to appear again". So why does Picard keep insisting well into the third season that Q promised to stop bothering the crew after Farpoint?

One of my favourite scenes in this episode is where Data and McCoy walk through the ship. While TOS is not my favourite Star Trek series, McCoy is one of my favourite characters, so to see him essentially passing the torch from his crew to Picard's, instead of someone like Kirk or Spock doing it, is pretty great. I also really like the first exchange between Riker and Data. Just Data in general is great in this episode.

Overall, I'm really happy to have this tape back in my collection. I mean it's one thing to watch the episode on DVD, but to pop the tape into the VCR and watch "Encounter at Farpoint" the way I originally watched it when I was a kid is a different experience altogether. Again, I was so surprised to see this tape at all on Friday, since I haven't seen any Star Trek VHS tapes, outside of the movies, at any thrift store, convention, second hand market, or flea market in the four years since I started collecting VHS tapes again. So of course I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to own this tape again after so many years. 

Alright my friends that's going to be it for me for today. After this week, The VHS Corner will be posted on Tuesdays since that's when VHS tapes, particularly for movies, were released, and it's also when DVDs and Blu-rays are released. I just happened to do a rewatch of this tape this morning and decided to talk about it today. I'll be back on Wednesday for my review of the season premiere of Superman & Lois season 3, which airs tomorrow night. I'm really excited for it since it is one of my favourite modern shows. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.   

The Goldbergs Retrospective Part 2: Watching the first nine episodes and S10E16 "The Better Annie"

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. It's been a bit hectic around here this week, but otherwise I'm doing okay. Last year I did a personal retrospective on The Goldbergs, today I'm back to talk about the show more now that it's in its final season. Over the weekend I watched the first nine episodes of season 1 and I've watched an episode from season 10, which is the current season. So I'm going to talk about those a little bit. This is going to sound weird, but there will be spoilers, so if by chance you've never watched The Goldbergs before...go watch it I guess? Yeah, let's get into it.

Watching the first nine episodes of the series was an interesting experience given that, aside from the pilot, and episode 5, "The Ring", which was the first appearance of Adam's first girlfriend, Dana Caldwell, played by Natalie Alyn Lind, I hadn't watched them since they first aired all the way back in 2013. I mean I remembered all of the episodes, but I completely forgot that apart from Dana, Adam's best friend Chad Kremp, and Barry's love interest of the season, Lexi Bloom, who is also one of Erica's friends, we don't see any of Adam, Barry, and Erica's friends in these first nine episodes. The JTP (Jenkintown Posse) don't get introduced until season 2, and Emmy Mirsky, Dave Kim, and Lainey Lewis don't get introduced until the second half of the season, though Lainey is mentioned as early as episode 2, "Daddy Daughter Day" as Erica's best friend.

The show is very focused on the family in these first nine episodes. Outside of the Kremps's house and a few other locations, like the rollerskating rink and Murray's furniture store, we spend the most time at the Goldbergs's house. Kind of like how we spent most of season 1 of The Big Bang Theory at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, particularly in the first few episodes. And that's made these characters feel so real. We got to spend nine episodes with basically just them before other, iconic, characters were introduced. Which you don't get in many TV shows these days since most of them are now ten episodes or less per season and you don't have time to spend with the main characters before the storyline of the season needs to start. 

While I was watching these first nine episodes the other night, I realized that, yeah, I did watch the pilot, "The Circle of Driving" when it originally aired on September 24th, 2013. I missed episode 2 though and watched episode 3, "Mini Murray" and went from there. And seeing the pilot again was weird because now that I've seen the first two seasons of Stargirl, seeing Brec Bassinger as the teenage waitress at the restaurant that Pops took Adam to in the pilot was weird because all I can think about is her kicking ass as Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl on Stargirl for three seasons.

Rewatching these first nine episodes reminded me of why I fell in love with The Goldbergs in the first place. It's not only funny, but it has heart. It may be set in the '80s, but the setting is merely that, the setting. The characters and situations could happen in any decade, aside from a few '80s specific situations, like calling your parents to let them know you arrived at your destination safely if you're a young driver. Today we have cell phones, texting, and tracking for that sort of thing. I've kind of kept up with the series from time to time, watching the occasional episode here and there. But this reminder made me decide to pick up the series again for the last few episodes of this final season. And that's what I started doing last night.

Season 10, particularly last night's episode, called, "The Better Annie", felt like The Goldbergs. As much as I enjoyed Schooled, it caused alot of problems for The Goldbergs because many of the writers were busy on the new show, and with Adam involved with Schooled as showrunner, The Goldbergs was put into the hands of someone who just didn't understand the kind of show that The Goldbergs is. It kinda started happening in the second half of season 5 as Adam and the production crew produced "The Goldbergs: 1990-Something", which was the backdoor pilot for what would become Schooled. And it continued right through the next four seasons. Season 6 wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as what season 5 had been but season 7, which was also the first to be affected by the pandemic, suffered from focusing too much on the '80s references and the comedy rather than the solid character moments that really made the first five seasons special. It also didn't help that Sean Giambrone was absent for an episode or two because he was off filming the 2019 live action Kim Possible Disney Channel Original movie with Sadie Stanley, who ended up on The Goldbergs as Adam's final high school girlfriend, Brea Bee. As a result, the show felt off.

But this season, of what I've seen of it, has returned to the show's roots. The comedy was toned down and the reliance on the '80s references was dialed back as well. Seasons 9 and 10 have been weird because George Segal, who played Pops, passed away midway through the second half of season 8, so they killed Pops off at the beginning of season 9. Then, Jeff Garlin, who played Murray, was fired after several HR investigations, and so they had to add a CGI Murray for the rest of season 9, before just killing the character off between seasons 9 and 10. And the thing is, I don't know if Adam is involved with the show again or what the deal is. I just know that despite Alex Barnow still being showrunner, the show has returned to what it was at the beginning.

One of the things that I loved about last night's episode is that it was a very simple A Plot/B Plot story. Pop Pop's apartment is repaired following a fire in his building, but when Pop Pop, a.k.a. Ben Goldberg (Murray and Marvin's father, played by Judd Hirsch) moves back in, he admits to Geoff Schwartz (played by Sam Lerner) that he doesn't want to move back to his apartment because he'll be lonely without the chaotic nature of the Goldberg house so Geoff suggests that he try to be nicer, because he's pretty grumpy, kinda like how Murray was before Jeff Garlin was fired and they killed the character off. From there hilarity ensues as both Beverly (played by Wendi McLendon-Covey) and Barry (played by Troy Gentile) fear that Ben is losing his mind. Eventually Geoff and Ben reveal the truth and Bev and Barry welcome Ben back with open arms.

Meanwhile, Adam (played by Sean Giambrone) and his new girlfriend, Carmen (played by Isabella Gomez), decide it's time for Carmen to meet Adam's family as they've been getting pretty serious lately. But they hit a snag when it's revealed that Erica (played by Hayley Orrantia) has a grudge against Carmen because they'd both been up for the part of Annie in a local theater presentation of the play, and Carmen won it despite Erica being extremely talented and Erica ended up in the role of Daddy Warbucks, and ended up being typecast as bald characters for some reason. And when they go to resolve it, Carmen ends up saying that she loves Adam and her and Erica's ridiculous feud is completely forgotten.

With everything my family has gone through with my grandparents these last few years between my grandfather passing away three years ago and all the health issues both of my grandmothers have had this last year Pop Pop's storyline hit me pretty hard. In a good way though, oddly enough. It served as a reminder, as did George Segal's character being a member of the main cast pretty much up until he passed away, that grandparents are just as important in our lives as our parents, siblings, and friends are, whether they live with us or not. 

I also enjoyed the Erica/Carmen storyline just because, one of the moments I fear the most whenever I get a new girlfriend is whether my family is going to like her and whether she'll get along with them. Not so much my siblings, because they aren't around as much, but it's always been extremely important to me that my girlfriend, whoever she is, gets along with my parents. Especially my mom. Despite being 36 years old, I still rely on my parents for alot of things due to my disabilities and I still live with them. So it's important to me that my girlfriend gets along with my mom because, if she doesn't there isn't much hope for the relationship, because Mom comes before pretty much everyone else. Even my friends bow to my mom's wishes, hence why I've been able to start going places and hanging out with Brad again once he and I were fully vaccinated. Does that make me a Mama's boy? Maybe, but when you're in my situation it can't be helped. So if she and any girlfriend of mine don't get along there's no hope for my continued relationship with said girlfriend. Unlike Adam though, I've never had to give any of my girlfriends cue cards with specific instructions on how to talk and behave around my family. Don't get me wrong, my family is weird, crazy and interesting, but they aren't completely out to lunch. Lol.

I just find it funny that Erica is the one that had a history with Carmen. Given that Beverly has had a few run ins with Carmen in previous episodes, since Carmen first appeared in Season 10, Episode 9, "Million Dollar Reward", I figured it would be her who would have a problem with Carmen, has Beverly had problems with Dana, Jackie, and Brea when they all started dating Adam in previous seasons. But then I remembered that Erica is completely crazy and she's started feuds with people for less important things than being denied a role in a play being put on by a local children's theater group. But still it was fun.

Also I think Adam and Carmen's relationship is developing alot quicker than Adam's previous relationships. I mean Dana, Jackie, and Brea all had three seasons each to develop their relationships with Adam, but with this season being the show's final one, if they're doing what I think they're doing, and making Carmen Adam's forever relationship, they only have a total of six episodes left to get them to that place before the series is over and that's it. So yeah, it's a faster pace, but I don't mind it because it's actually progressing pretty organically. 

I love the fact that Adam and Carmen work at a '50s themed diner. Mainly because it reminds me of a restaurant that my family and I used to go to when I was a kid called Rockin' Johnny's Diner, which was also a '50s themed diner. Also, they work with Johnny Atkins (played by Sean Marquette) and Carla Mann (played by Alex Jennings), two recurring characters who have been on the show since early in the third season with Carla being friends with Erica and Lainey, and Johnny being Adam's bully for the first three or four seasons that he was in.

Honestly I am very excited to see where the rest of this season will go. The Goldbergs is a comfort show for me. I mean I was able to easily binge nine episodes in a row the other night without the intensity of the genre shows that I watch like The Mandalorian and any modern Star Trek series. I don't mean that the show is mindless, because it isn't. But there aren't high stakes or world ending events in it either. So it's an easy show to put on and watch a few episodes of before bed. Because sometimes, life is hard and we don't always get every detail right when we talk about our lives, but with our friends and families by our sides, we can manage to navigate the major events in our lives. Last night's episode was a reminder of that, and I loved it.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. But I will be back, probably tomorrow, with a book review. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

The Mandalorian 3x01 "Chapter 17: The Apostate" (2023) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday. So today is the day my friends. The premiere of season 3 of The Mandalorian dropped on Disney+ this morning and I just finished watching it. It was a great start to the season and I'm going to talk about it. There will be some spoilers just because in terms of material there actually isn't a whole lot to talk about so it's going to be difficult to talk about the episode without spoilers. So if you're watching the show and haven't watched this episode yet, please do so before reading this review. Let's get into it.

Picking up where we left off in season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett, Mando and Grogu head to where Mando's former clan, or cult, as Bo-Katan called it, saving his people from a very large sea lizard before speaking to the Armorer. Next the clan of two go to Nevarro to see Karga and to try to repair IG-11, who self-destructed to protect Grogu all the way back in the season 1 finale. While there Mando and Grogu meet some Anzellans, master Droidsmiths, who first appeared back in 2019 in The Rise of Skywalker with the character, Babu Frik. When we saw the head Anzellan in the trailer, everyone thought that it was Babu Frik, but now I'm not so sure. The character isn't named in this episode, so if it is Babu Frik we likely won't find out until a later episode in the season. But we'll see on that. After a run in with some pirates, which Mando helped Karga defeat on Nevarro, Mando and Grogu go to visit Bo-Katan, who has abandoned her plans to reclaim Mandalore as she failed to gain the Darksaber at the end of season 2.

I really enjoyed this episode. Not a whole lot to it, but I didn't need a major dense season opening like I'd gotten with the season 3 premiere of Star Trek: Picard or that I'll likely get with the season 3 premiere of Superman & Lois. This was the perfect way to ease the audience back into the world of this show, since, apart from the last three episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, we haven't been with Mando and Grogu in a little over 2 years, and not everyone who watches The Mandalorian watched The Book of Boba Fett since there are alot of casual fans and non-fans who watch The Mandalorian. So I thought this was the perfect way to start the season off.

One thing that I was surprised at was how different Nevarro was compared to previous seasons. It was always another hive of scum and villainy, rivaling Mos Eisley on Tatooine, but Greef Karga really cleaned the place up since season 2. As he mentioned to Mando in the episode, Cara Dune was recruited by New Republic Special Forces, so Karga is without a Marshall, but hoped that Mando would take over. I was a little confused when Karga mentioned that the former bar was a school because I thought the school was in a different building as we saw in the season 2 opener when Mando sent Grogu there and he and Karga talked in the bar. But it's been a while since I watched season 2, so I might do a rewatch at some point. We'll see though.

I think my favourite part was the beginning where Paz Vizla, the Armorer, and the other Mandalorians were having trouble taking down that sea lizard but Mando came in and killed it with the weapons on his modified Naboo N-1 Starfighter, which probably had Vizla a bit upset, given their previous rivalry. Particularly in episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett. Which was fun to see.

I was a little bit confused when the recap at the beginning of the episode showed IG-11's destruction in the season 1 finale, but that confusion vanished when Mando stated his desire to bring IG-11 back in the episode. I found that interesting since IG-11 wasn't even mentioned at all in season 2 or in The Book of Boba Fett. So I'm interested to see where that goes in later episodes.

That's all I have to say about this episode. Like I said, it's a simple, straightforward season opening. It was fun, interesting and felt alot more streamlined than previous season openers for Star Wars shows. Which is nice for a change, since they packed alot into those previous season openers, especially for shows that were mini-series like The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it's not always necessary to do so. 

That my friends, is it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more reviews and posts. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.