Plans for 2025

 So here we are, less than two weeks away from the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. I had planned on doing another Christmas related post for you this week, but, instead, I'm gonna talk a little bit about what I hope to do on the blog in 2025. Let's get into it.

In 2025 it's going to be ten years since I first started my original Word Press blog, the Geek Outpost. Back then I just wanted to talk about what I was reading and watching such as comic books, novels, movies, and TV shows. No real theme or goal, just that it had to be geeky. So I would talk more about Star Trek or Star Wars than I would a sitcom like Friends or That '70s Show. Though The Big Bang Theory was not off the table since it was still on TV in 2015, and was also geek related. I was also exploring Marvel Comics a little bit since the MCU was so popular and outside of a few Spider-Man comics that I had as a kid, almost the entire run of the Runaways, a few issues of the Marvel Star Wars series from the '70s and '80s, and a few issues of Marvel's Star Trek comic from the '80s, I'd never read any Marvel books before. And I was reluctant to do so at that point since I already knew I was a fan of DC Comics, particularly Batman. But, with how popular Guardians of the Galaxy had been back in 2014, I wanted to be prepared because we still didn't know what Infinity War and Endgame were going to look like or what Marvel was planning for the MCU afterwards. 

My blog has changed over the years, and it changed platforms in 2020, and now it's become the very thing that I wanted it to be from the very beginning. A place where I can talk about the shows, movies, TV shows, TV channels, comics, books, and toys that I grew up with, as well as anything else that I wanted to talk about on here. That's going to continue in 2025. The blog will still be nostalgia centric, but there are shows that I want to watch and talk about here. Thanks to a very good friend of mine I have all six seasons of the Sci-Fi series, The Expanse, on Blu-ray, so once the holidays are over, and I've finished watching The Batman (the 2004 animated series, not the 2022 movie starring Robert Pattinson) and Young Justice (and done blog posts on both), I'm going to sit down and watch The Expanse. And then I'm going to talk about the show. I thought about doing reviews for each season, but I feel like that's going to be too tedious for me as this is going to be my first time watching the show and I feel like I'm going to have too much to talk about in each season and then forget to cover it in a full series review afterward, so I don't want to deal with that, and have decided to talk about the show once I'm finished the whole thing. Which is the opposite problem of what I had when I watched Community back in 2020.

On the comic book front, I'm going to dive into Robert Kirkman's 2003 superhero series, Invincible in 2025 as well now that I have all 25 volumes of the trade paperback collected editions. I thought about doing individual reviews for all 25 volumes, but I decided it would be simpler to just write about the comic book series as a whole. I've got other comics and books that I want to talk about in the new year as well, but I'll save them for a surprise as the year goes on.

I also have tons of movies and shows and so much else to talk about in 2025, it's gonna be great. I don't have any kind of release schedule planned out for the new year though. Just because there will be weeks where I only want to put out one post for the week, and other weeks where I want to put more than one out. I also have to work around medical appointments, as well as hanging out with friends and family. Blogging, just like any kind of content creation, can easily consume your life and I prefer to strike more of a balance between blogging and the rest of my life. 

With all of that said, I want to thank you all for reading my posts. I've gained new readers this year thanks to the wonderful people on the VHS Club Podcast and YouTube channel. Particularly the show's hosts, Katie and Nat. Speaking of Katie and Nat, I just wanna take the time to announce that on January 9th at 9 pm EST I will be making another guest appearance on the show. This time we're reviewing the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint" and talking all things TNG and Star Trek related VHS. So definitely stay tuned for that.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for tonight, and it for me for this year. I will be back in the new year. So until then merry christmas, happy holidays, happy New Year, and I will see you all in the new year. Take care.

My 90's and 2000's Experience: My Childhood Christmas Movies and Specials VHS Collection

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. We're shifting gears and getting into the Christmas spirit here in the Geek Cave this week. Today I'm going to talk about my childhood Christmas movies and specials VHS collection. Let's get into it!

Up first is The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. I loved the Berenstain Bears when I was a kid, and I had a ton of the books. I don't even remember who gave this tape to me or when. I just remember watching it at least once during the Christmas holidays when I was growing up. It was a little weird having actual voices connected to the Berenstain Bears, just because I mostly knew them from books since I didn't watch the 80's animated series. Just this special. I don't have this special anymore, but it is available to watch on YouTube.

Next up is The Nutcracker Prince. I haven't seen this movie in probably twenty years or so, but I remember watching it with my sister all the time at Christmas. In the U.S. the movie was released on VHS by Warner Bros, but in Canada it was released by Cineplex Odeon Video in collaboration with MCA Home Video. Kiefer Sutherland voices the titular Nutcracker Prince. It did get released on DVD in Canada and the United States in 2004, but it's long out of print, and outside of two releases in the U.K. (one in 2001 and the other in 2007), the movie hasn't been released on DVD since then and has never been released on Blu-ray or 4K. 

Alpha's Magical Christmas is a really weird release for the Power Rangers franchise. It's a sing-along direct-to-video special and isn't canon to the show or even to the 1995 movie, yet, it exists. I think I got this after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had been removed from Global, so apart from the five episodes that I had on VHS that had been taped off Global and YTV for me in early 1994, this special was the only way I had to watch Power Rangers at all, since I didn't have the movie on VHS yet. It's pretty cheesy, but it's still fun to watch. Oddly enough Shout! Factory included it on one of the two bonus discs in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series DVD set back in 2013, though I don't know if it was included in the 2016 re-release of the box set, or the 2018 steelbook release of the series. So even though I don't own the VHS anymore, I still have it on DVD since I have the original 2013 complete series box set.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is also a bit of a weird one too because it's the first direct-to-video midquels for Beauty and the Beast and it's a Christmas one. I've watched it at least once on Disney+ back in like 2021 or 2022, but I definitely watched it more when I was growing up because of my sister. In fact, I actually think that this one was my sister's tape, but it was in the family VHS collection in the family room. This was a 1997 release too, so my sister probably didn't even get it until either Christmas 1997, her birthday in 1998 or Christmas 1998 at the latest. 

I've talked about Waiting for Santa a lot on my blogs over the years, but it was part of our Christmas specials VHS collection when I was a kid. We got it pretty late. I'm pretty sure we didn't get it until 1994 at the latest, just because it got re-released again in 1996, 1997, and 1998, and we weren't getting Barney tapes that late. While I've watched the later Barney Christmas specials on YouTube about a decade ago, Waiting for Santa is still my favourite, just because it was from pretty early on in Barney's history, and was part of my generation of Barney.

When I was a teenager, we got the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas on VHS. We never owned the original animated version on a retail VHS release, though we did have it taped off of TV, and we still do as I found that tape. So getting this one was the next best thing. I really do enjoy Jim Carrey in the role. It just felt a little too stretched out given the story it's telling. Even watching it now, it feels pretty stretched out. I have it on DVD now, and I also watched it on Netflix in like 2019 or 2020, but I have no idea if it's still on Netflix or not. 

Is there anyone who was born between 1959 and 1995 who hasn't watched Frosty the Snowman? This one was always in the rotation, whether we watched it on VHS or watched it during its annual airing on Global or CTV. I even did a full lookback at the special itself as well as its history on home video last year. I have it on VHS and on DVD as part of a box set of classic Christmas specials.

Next is Disney's 1998 Christmas movie, I'll Be Home for Christmas, starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, and Adam LaVorgna (with the last two being regulars on the WB drama, 7th Heaven). It's not the best Christmas movie, or even the best comedy movie, but it's still pretty funny.

The Teddy Bears' Christmas is a pretty obscure Canadian made Christmas special from 1992. I don't think it ever had a DVD release, but it was released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment. I remember watching it on VHS, though I think I also saw it on TV at one point, though I don't remember whether I saw it on TV before or after we got it on VHS. If at all. It's on YouTube. 

Finally we have The Muppet Christmas Carol. This is one of my favourite movies of all time and I finally got it on DVD last year or the year before. Prior to that I would put it on on Disney+ to watch, and before THAT, well, I hadn't seen it for years because I don't have the VHS anymore and I didn't have it on DVD yet. But, I have it now, so I'm pretty pleased with that. Christmas is always fun with the Muppets.

And that was my Christmas movies and specials on VHS collection from my childhood. Next week I think I'm going to talk about my current Christmas specials and movies collection because I have a lot more on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray now. In the meantime though, I might have other blog posts coming this week, but we'll see because I have a dental appointment on Wednesday and I might be getting my flu shot on Friday, so we'll see. Until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Superman & Lois Season 4 Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Sorry for the lack of posts last week, but I got my most recent Covid shot and I didn't plan any blog posts just in case I had any side effects from the shot. I didn't, but, I still chose not to plan anything and then not be able to do it. It is however, the Christmas season once again, which means I'll be doing a few Christmas related blog posts next week and the week after, and then I will be going on my two week hiatus for Christmas and New Year's. Today though I'm gonna do a quick review for season 4 of Superman & Lois as the series finale aired last night and even though this blog has become retro and nostalgia based, I've reviewed every season of the show between my two blogs since 2021 and I wasn't going to leave out the final season. There will also be some spoilers for the season, in case you haven't watched it yet, or haven't finished watching it. So, let's get into it.

When this show was first announced I was nervous because it was another Arrowverse show airing on The CW and while Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow all had strong first seasons, all four shows began dropping in quality by the third or fourth season, so I was afraid that Superman & Lois would suffer the same fate. It didn't. One of the smartest things the showrunners did was sever the show's connection to the Arrowverse in 2022. This was around the time that Batwoman, Black Lightning, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow were being canceled, and the production crew was getting ready to work on season 9 of The Flash, which was that show's final season. And because the crossovers the Arrowverse producers had planned for Superman & Lois got canned due to Covid restrictions, which caused a ton of logistics issues, it made no sense to keep the show in that continuity. Despite Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch playing Superman and Lois on Supergirl and in the "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossovers. And I think that made the show better.

I think I was worried about season 4 the most simply because season 3 ended on Superman fighting Doomsday on the moon, and with season 4 being the final season and it being only ten episodes, I was afraid they weren't going to be able to do The Death of Superman justice in such a limited format. However, they didn't do that. Oh sure, Doomsday killed Superman, and we saw the effect his death had on Smallville, but the season was actually about Superman and Lex Luthor, played by Michael Cudlitz, which is another departure from the Arrowverse, as Jon Cryer played Lex in that show. So it feels like the writers just wanted to do a classic Superman vs. Lex Luthor story. The battles between Superman and Doomsday and the final battle between Superman and Luthor were some of the best fights I've seen in a CW DC Comics based TV show in a really long time.

While Lana, Sarah, Kyle, Jon Henry, and Nat don't appear in every episode, they still appeared throughout the season pretty regularly. Which was fine with me, because the way the media was saying it was that they would only be in one or two episodes and that's it. With a cast like this, the writers did a great job of balancing the storylines for an ensemble cast. Most shows aren't good with stuff like that.

This season, and its finale, showed that these writers and showrunners get Superman. They understand what he's about and what he's supposed to represent. Which is something the movies and past TV shows haven't really gotten right since the original Christopher Reeve movie in 1978. Supergirl sort of did, but being that Superman only appeared a handful of times as a support character for Kara, the writers on that show didn't have much of an opportunity to work with Tyler that much in terms of developing the character.

I'm glad we finally just got evil Lex Luthor without trying to make him sympathetic or try to deconstruct and analyze why he is the way he is. The comics have been trying to do that for at least 20 years, if not more, and we got seven seasons of that on Smallville in the 2000s. Michael Cudlitz did an amazing job in the role. This was something else I was nervous about just because they didn't fully introduce the character until the final two or three episodes of season 3 and so that season, outside of Lois talking about him, didn't really give me a good sense of what this version of Luthor would be like. He was great in the role though, and I loved it whenever he was on screen. Especially during his interactions with both Lois and Clark. 

I'm not entirely current on the comics, but I remember them doing a storyline where Superman revealed his identity to the world, so when they did it in the show in episode 7 of this season, I wasn't all that surprised, and unlike the million times Oliver revealed his identity as the Green Arrow to the world on Arrow, prior to the final reveal at the end of season 6, the writers didn't try to reverse it at any point in the final three episodes of the show.

One of the things that I really liked and appreciated about Superman & Lois as a whole is that The CW didn't make them ramp up the drama between the characters like they've done on other comic book based shows on the network, dating back to when it was The WB and Smallville was starting back in 2001. For the most part the network executives left the producers and writers to their own devices, so they could make the Superman show that THEY wanted to make instead of the Superman show the network and/or Warner Bros. wanted them to make. 

Overall season 4 of Superman & Lois is a great season of television, and I'm glad the show went out on a high note. I'll admit though that I am going to miss the show. This was the best show to come out of the Arrowverse, and never once did I feel it was a slog to watch. I think that's because the show was so positive. Especially in comparison to other modern superhero and comic book based movies and TV shows. If you've never seen this show before, I highly recommend it. I also recommend giving it another try if you couldn't get into it at the beginning and fell off of it after the first season.

And that my friends is it for me for today. I might do a more Christmasy blog post later in the week, but we'll see how things go. I'm supposed to be having a friend over to hang out tomorrow, but if the weather sucks, I'll just have to re-arrange things so that I do the blog post on whatever day my friend isn't coming over on. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.