Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x07 "The Serene Squall" TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! How's everybody doing on this Friday morning? I'm doing well. It's Friday, which means I'm here to talk about another episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This week it's episode 7, called, "The Serene Squall". There's going to be spoilers so if you haven't watched the episode yet, please do so before reading this review. Otherwise let's get right into it.

This episode could've been very Discovery-ish with the pirates and the ship being captured, but it wasn't. It still felt like classic Star Trek somehow. As if the writers pulled back on this one even though they wanted to make it as violent as possible. Especially given their propensity for doing so on Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. Which I greatly appreciated because it made for another fun episode.

I am really enjoying the chemistry between Jess Bush and Ethan Peck as Chapel and Spock. Not that Majel Barrett and Leonard Nimoy didn't have chemistry back in the TOS days, but the writers were doing everything they could to keep Chapel in the background so that the studio executives, and Lucille Ball, didn't discover that Majel was the same actress who they fired after they disliked her as Number One in the original pilot, "The Cage", that she came off as one note particularly when she was on screen with Nimoy in their scenes as Chapel and Spock. Here though, there are no such restrictions and so their relationship is pretty fun to watch. It actually feels like a genuine friendship, unlike most of the relationships on Discovery and Picard.

I am also really enjoying T'Pring being a fully fleshed out character. When she appeared in "Amok Time" she felt lifeless because we didn't know what she did for a living and all we knew about her was her connection to Spock and her desire to terminate said connection in favour of Stonn. Which doesn't make for a compelling character. But I'm glad we're getting more of her now. It's satisfying to watch characters created 55 years ago by D.C. Fontana actually become fully realized characters instead of throwaway guest characters. 

Speaking of Stonn, and this whole section is where the spoilers lay, he shows up as one of T'Pring's office assistants. Which is actually pretty hilarious given that we don't know how T'Pring and Stonn met in TOS. It's also pretty interesting getting to see so much of these characters we saw back in the '60s. At first you don't even know who he is, but then T'Pring says, "thank you Stonn" and if you're a Trekkie, you know who Stonn is. You know who T'Pring is, so it's exciting to get that interaction, even if it's just a small one.

By the way my favourite scene in this entire episode is at the very beginning when Spock and T'Pring are on FaceTime/Skype/Google Hangouts/Facebook Video Chat and the look on Spock's face when T'Pring mentions she had been reading several books on human sexuality and sexual customs in hopes of helping Spock explore his human side a bit more. And adjacent to that when he talks to Chapel and tells her of the situation. I laughed pretty hard, just because it's a little ridiculous, but actually pretty realistic when you're with someone and they want to understand an aspect of your life, but then goes overboard with it and you love that they're trying. And then you're a little uncomfortable and need advice from a friend on how to handle it. I haven't personally had that before, but I've seen it on other TV shows like That '70s Show, The Big Bang Theory, and Love, Victor.

The biggest spoiler comes at the very end when it's revealed who the prisoner that Captain Angel wanted to exchange Spock for. Sybok, Spock's half-brother. Yes, THAT Sybok, from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the one Spock never told Kirk and McCoy about. It adds another layer to Spock's friendship with Chapel because he told her about him. Good thing she's not in Star Trek V, which is most likely why the writers put that into the episode.

So, to the wider plot, since I gushed and geeked out over the Vulcans long enough. The Enterprise being captured so easily by pirates is such a goofy little trope at this point, because it's happened at least once in EVERY single classic Star Trek series from TOS in the '60s all the way to Enterprise in the 2000s. And I love it. I also love the twist where Pike and the crew insight mutiny amongst the pirates, allowing them to take control of the pirate ship just long enough to get back to the Enterprise. And you don't actually see the start of the mutiny either, which is fine. All you see is Pike and the crew in control of the pirate ship, the Serene Squall. I love how they were able to pull it off as non-violently as possible too. 

The coolest twist is how "Dr. Aspen" was really the pirate captain, Angel. Who is a far better villain than Osyraa was in season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. Mainly because Osyraa was just a petty dictator with delusions of godhood, while Angel is a pirate for the fun of it. Like they looked like they were having fun in every scene they were in. Which is awesome. And when we find out they were actually after Sybok, it was like, "Oh, THAT's interesting". So I'm wondering if we'll go back to that plot element in a later episode.

I do have one minor criticism this episode though. Una and Spock mentioned that Pike needed Starfleet Command's permission to enter non-Federation space. Why? Isn't the whole idea of exploration is to leave Federation space and go out into the unknown? My thought was that Una and Spock meant it as, they needed permission for the Enterprise to enter an independent power's territory, which would line up with what we've seen in every other Star Trek series and movie over the years. But the way they said it and the way it sounded is they meant it as, they needed permission to leave Federation space altogether, which is odd to me. It doesn't even come close to breaking the episode or making me angry about the sanctity of Star Trek Canon when it comes to prequel series like Strange New Worlds, I just found it to be a curiousity in this amazing series.

Overall this was another fantastic episode. It was fun, interesting and opened up so many more potential storytelling opportunities for Star Trek in the future. Particularly on Strange New Worlds. And I hope they take it because it was awesome.

And that my friends is going to be it for me for this week. I was going to say that I hope that next week won't be as hectic when it comes to the blog, but it totally will because the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi drops next week and then the following week the season finale of Superman & Lois airs and the season premiere of Only Murders in the Building drops. Then maybe I can get around to catching up on season 2 of The Hardy Boys. So until then have a wonderful afternoon and an amazing weekend and I will talk to you all soon. Take care.

Are Massive Cinematic Universes Sustainable?

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing really well. Today I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm going to discuss my thoughts on whether or not massive cinematic universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe are sustainable. I am not a business expert or a film industry expert. But, I am a movie fan, and I am a fan of the Star Wars Universe, the Star Trek Universe, the MCU from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame, and DCEU films like Shazam! (2018) and Wonder Woman (2017). So let's get into it.

The concept of a shared cinematic universe goes all the way back to the Universal Monster movies of the 1930s and would be utilized in the '50s with the Godzilla series in Japan. Beyond that though most movies were separate from each other, unless they were part of a series. On TV the biggest shared universes are the Filmation DC Cartoon Universe from the '60s, and the DC Animated Universe from the '90s to the mid 2000s with Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Universe, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and The Zeta Project, which ran from 1992 until 2006. But in film, there wasn't really a shared cinematic universe again until the MCU started in 2008, though the Mummy movies starring Brendan Fraser kind of attempted it with the spin-off Scorpion King series in the 2000s. 

The MCU has been running since 2008, and it was really easy to follow in the 11 years between Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame. I think that's because for the most part each movie could stand on it's own and be an entry point for new viewers, except for Infinity War and Endgame itself. In my case I was able to watch The Avengers (2012) in theatres without having seen The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (2011), or Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). I saw them later, but I saw The Avengers without having seen the other three movies, though I had seen Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), and I was able to follow what was going on in the movie despite not knowing what the tesseract was, who Loki, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Maria Hill were or anything like that. 

Marvel has changed tactics slightly as every show and movie seems to lead into the next one. Which makes it very difficult for a newcomer to simply just jump in at this point. It's also hard for people like me, who aren't interested in many of the shows and movies that Marvel Studios is putting out, to watch the shows and/or movies that we are interested in because they're so interconnected with each other. And honestly that's actually a major issue with Marvel Comics as a whole and not just the movies and shows.

When Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko created the Marvel Comics Universe in the 1960s, they did it with connecting everything together from the beginning. For example if something happened to Spider-Man in an issue of Fantastic Four or The Avengers or Captain America or whatever book he appears in, it affects his story going forward in The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man. No Marvel comic truly stands alone, just like no Marvel movie or TV show truly stands alone anymore.

Honestly, I don't think that's sustainable for a movie universe. It works for the comics because the people reading the comics are comic book fans. However, because movies and TV shows are about reaching the largest audience possible, since that's how the studios make their money, the way the MCU is going at the moment probably isn't sustainable in the long term. Look at Eternals for example. The audience was split on it. Some loved it, most people hated it. Why? Because the Eternals is a pretty high concept series and for the majority of the wide, mainstream audience, they don't care about high concept stories and many of them aren't comic book readers. Which is the key. 

For me personally, I gravitate towards DC Comics stuff more than Marvel, because Batman is my favourite comic book character of all time and always has been. But has always made it easier for me to get into DC characters is that even though it's a shared universe, everything is self-contained. For example if something happens in Justice League and Batman has a major part in it, it wouldn't necessarily have an effect on what's going on in the Batman titles and vice versa. The only times this hasn't been the case was events like Crisis On Infinite Earths and The Death of Superman. 

The thing about the DC Universe is that each part was created independently of each other, by different creative teams at three different publishers. It was only later that they chose to bring them together in a team like the Justice Society of America, and then later, the Justice League of America. It wasn't until the mid-'40s that characters like Batman and Superman began appearing as guest stars in each other's books. That philosophy has moved over to the movies.

I've enjoyed very little of the DCEU films. In fact the only two I've genuinely enjoyed are Wonder Woman (2017) and Shazam! (2018). And yet, I actually prefer the model that Warner Bros. is using for the DCEU. Less connectivity between the movies and the shows, with the exception of Peacemaker being a spin-off of The Suicide Squad (2021). I think this model is more sustainable because audiences don't have to watch everything to understand what's going on in a particular movie or TV show. And I think it'll work for WB in the long run because general audiences can just not see the stuff they don't care about. 

Now, I've enjoyed the majority of the MCU films and TV shows that I've seen, with some noted exceptions like Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), WandaVision (2021), and Loki (2021). But I don't have the time or energy to watch everything. Especially because I'm watching several TV shows every week with the various Star Trek shows, The Orville, Superman & Lois, The Hardy Boys, the various Star Wars shows (with some notable exceptions), and Only Murders in the Building. Not to mention I read, watch movies, go outside to get some fresh air, AND I run this blog in addition to eating, going to get groceries and everything else. Even without a job to go to every day I don't have time to watch every single TV show and movie that comes out. 

Which is why I don't think Marvel Studios's current model for their shows and movies is sustainable in the long run the way their previous model was. I mean the majority of people watching these shows and movies aren't YouTubers or bloggers who watch them for a living. But the way Marvel Studios has structured them you have to watch everything in order to understand just one movie or show. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang-Chi seem to be the exceptions. And eventually that means that the MCU will lose viewers or some shows won't do as well because people will be picking and choosing what they watch. It's possible that might not happen for another five to ten years, I don't know. But I do think it will happen eventually. 

That's going to be it for me for today. It's kind of a quick rant post today since I didn't know what to talk about really since I was able to get my review of the third season of Love, Victor out yesterday. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds so until then have a great evening and I will talk to you later. Take care. 

Love, Victor Season 3 (2022) TV Series Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing okay. I'm a little tired because I just spent an entire day watching TV and finished an entire season of television in a single day, which I have actually never done before, but hey, it was fun. In fact that's kinda why I'm here today. That season was season 3 of Love, Victor, which I reviewed the first two seasons of on The Review Basement back in October and November of 2021. So let's get into it. There will be spoilers because the entire season dropped today, so if you're watching the show, and haven't finished season 3 yet, then please do so before reading this review. With that out of the way, let's get right into it.

I really enjoyed this final season of Love, Victor but it feels unfinished somehow. Like there should be more. Not that the finale needed to be epic or anything, but there seemed to be there was supposed to be more to the season than there was, like episodes were missing. I can't seem to find anything about it online so I guess it was always meant to be 8 episodes instead of the ten episodes that the first two seasons had been. 

One thing I would like to note is that this season happened mostly away from school. Which is fine, because the basketball stuff, both for Victor, and for Andrew, didn't need to be at the forefront of the series. It's not One Tree Hill afterall, though Sophia Bush is in both shows. I just thought it was interesting to see more of Victor's life away from school this time around.

Speaking of Victor's life, he was completely separated from his friends all season. Like he and Mia didn't have a single scene together until the finale. Actually, now that I think about it Victor didn't have very many scenes with any of the rest of the main cast. He had two or three scenes with Felix all season, had one with Mia and Lake, only three scenes with Andrew, AND only had a couple of scenes with Pilar and his family. The rest of the time he was with Nick, Rahim, or Benjy. And I kind of feel like that was a bit of a misstep on the part of the writers given that, at least to me, the biggest strength this series had in the first two seasons, was Victor's supporting cast, including his parents. And I felt that just wasn't utilized that much in this season. Especially since Simon wasn't there to help him out this season. Which I actually kind of liked, because it got the show out of the shadow of it's source material film, Love, Simon (2018), and let it stand on it's own.

If you read my reviews of the first two seasons then I think you know what I'm about to talk about...my favourite relationship in the first two seasons, Felix and Lake. I was so disappointed when they didn't get back together at any point in the season. Especially since Felix and Pilar kinda just flamed out halfway through the season, which was also disappointing, but the drama has to come from somewhere. Especially because Felix didn't have a whole lot to do this season since his mom was all better. But, you know what? I'm okay that Felix and Lake didn't get back together because it would've cheapened not only what they went through in season 2, but also it would've cheapened Lake's relationship with Lucy, and Felix's relationship with Pilar, so I'm happy with it, even if I wished more time had been spent on them becoming friends following their big conversation in episode 2. I know, we got them talking in episodes 7 and 8, but I feel like there should've been more.

Speaking of parents, Armando and Isabel didn't have anything to do this season except for get mad at Pilar for hiding her relationship with Felix from them. Even Adrian wasn't there for a whole lot of the season. I did like what they did with Armando and Isabel this season though. It felt more like the writers wanted to focus alot more on the kids than on the parents, which is good. 

I am so glad that they stuck to their guns with Lake and Lucy, because it would've been so easy to have Lake pull back from Lucy and pine over Felix for the rest of the season, but they didn't, and I am so happy they didn't too. It's one thing I criticize the third season of The O.C. for not sticking to with Marissa after the big push to make her a Lesbian, or at the very least bisexual, in season 2. Trust me, I will be talking about that show another time.

One of my favourite things about this season though is how much they managed to wrap up in only eight episodes. With most final seasons the people making the show attempt to wrap up one or two things, while introducing new things, most of which never get explored or wrapped up, during the course of the season. Here though they wrapped up EVERY single storyline from the previous two seasons that carried over into this one. Lake and her mom, Felix and his mom, Pilar and her dad, Mia and her dad, AND Mia and her mom. So that was pretty impressive. I also loved that they didn't linger on certain storylines because it wasn't necessary to. Plus it takes some shows six seasons and a movie to wrap everything up (Hey Community I'm still waiting for that movie part). Which isn't always a good thing. So for this show to wrap everything up in eight episodes, while continuing the storyline until the very end of the series is pretty impressive. The Disney+ Star Wars and Marvel shows could start to learn that lesson. 

Honestly it was nice to watch eight episodes of a TV show and not have to worry about what's coming next for the wider universe the show is set in. I mean I watch plenty of shows where that is the case and it's nice to just step back a bit and enjoy watching characters that I love go through their lives.

Love, Victor is one of my absolute favourite shows of the last...well...of the last two years if I'm being honest. Yes, I only came to it last year after having finally been able to watch Love, Simon last October, but I had so much fun watching both seasons AND the movie, and I was so excited for this final season to drop. Will we return to Creekwood in the future? Who knows. If we do, will it be with the characters we're familiar with or an entirely brand new set of characters, with an all new cast playing them? I don't know, but whether we do or not, I had alot of fun during my time in Creekwood. 

Alrighty my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I will be back tomorrow with some post. I'm not really sure what yet, but I'll be here. Until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all again soon. Take care.

The VHS Corner: Power Rangers on VHS (1994-2005)

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Tuesday. Welcome back to the VHS Corner, where I take a look at the VHS tapes of my childhood. Today I'm taking a look at my personal history with Power Rangers on VHS. So let's get right into it.

In 1993 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers exploded onto TV screens all around Canada and the United States of America. Toys, books, comics, and other merchandise sold like hotcakes. I didn't start watching the show until season 1 was almost over. In fact my very first episode was Season 1, Episode 46, "To Flea or Not to Flea". However, almost immediately Saban Entertainment began releasing certain episodes onto VHS.

The tapes I remember renting were the original 1994 VHS releases for the entire "Green with Evil" five parter, titled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Green Ranger Mini-Series and I remember that my grandmother rented them for us...well for me....after she'd taken my siblings and I to either a children's entertainment concert at Centerpoint Theater, or after she'd taken us to see a movie. I think it was after she'd taken us to a show at Centerpoint Theater because I don't remember her taking us to see a movie in 1994 or in 1995 until Toy Story had come out. And it was either in 1994 or 1995 that she rented them for us because we were still in the old log farmhouse that we moved to when we moved out of the city. The reason we rented these tapes is because I had seen "Green with Evil" on TV, had seen basically all of the Green Ranger episodes from season 1 already, AND I had the Deluxe Dragonzord toy that came with the Green Ranger figure. And I loved being able to watch Power Rangers on VHS (remember, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the only Power Rangers series out at the time). I loved watching them and I hope I can find these out in the wild sometime to add to my own collection.

Believe it or not, the next set of Power Rangers tapes I'm going to talk about actually aren't ones we rented. "The Wannabe Ranger", "Putty on the Brain", and "Bloom of Doom", all early second season episodes that were released in late 1994, shortly after they aired, were tapes I saw at Rogers Video when we rented Disney Sing-Along Songs: Circle of Life. Yeah, we didn't even rent them. But I loved the box art on them and that stayed in my mind all these years. I saw all three of these episodes when they were on TV, AND I did later see them on VHS, but I'll be talking about that a bit later on.

The next tape I'm gonna be talking about is Alpha's Magical Christmas, the non-canon Christmas special where Alpha teleports a bunch of random kids to the Command Center for a Christmas sing-along party. Because that's not weird at all. By the time I got this tape as a birthday/Christmas present, Global TV had stopped airing Power Rangers and I ended up missing the vast majority of the show's third season, only getting back into it in 1996 as the season was wrapping up and the ten episode mini-series, Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers aired and led into the show's fourth season and second incarnation, Power Rangers Zeo. This was the only Power Rangers TV series VHS that I actually owned.

Of course, we eventually got Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) on VHS. This was how I saw the movie for the first time after seeing all the trailers/TV spots, and toy commercials for the movie on TV. This is one of my absolute favourite movies of all time. It's so cheesy and funny that I can't help but enjoy it every time I watch the movie. 

Now it's time to fast forward about eight years to when I was in high school. I was in high school, Power Rangers had celebrated it's tenth anniversary in 2003, and I had started watching the series again with reruns of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue and Power Rangers Wild Force, and new episodes of Power Rangers Ninja Storm and Power Rangers Dino Thunder. Kelly was a fellow Power Rangers fan and she lent me five of the six tapes in the Power Rangers: Power Playback series, each containing two previously released episodes, one from the first season, and one from the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. She lent me Red Ranger Adventure, with "Day of the Dumpster" and "The Wannabe Ranger" on it, Yellow Ranger Adventure, with "High Five" and "Forever Friends" on it, Black Ranger Adventure, with "Happy Birthday, Zack" and "Putty on the Brain" on it, Pink Ranger Adventure, with "No Clowning Around" and "Bloom of Doom" on it, and White Ranger Adventure, with "White Light Part 1" and "White Light Part 2" on it. I remembered seeing all of these episodes when I was a kid, but it was the first time in ten years since I'd seen them, so it was pretty neat getting to revisit them.

At the same time Kelly had lent me Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: The Power of Teamwork Overcomes All, which contained the first three episodes of the season. I had initially stopped watching Power Rangers during Power Rangers In Space in 1998 and I'd missed Power Rangers Lost Galaxy entirely. So this was my first exposure to the series. It was fun at least getting to see the first three episodes of the series. I've since seen a good chunk of the show. I'm hoping to get the series on DVD eventually too.

I also had a tape containing six episodes of season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that were taped off of YTV and Global TV by a friend of mine at OCTC when I went to school there. His name was Nicky, and the episodes his mom had taped for me were "Island of Illusion Part 1", "Switching Places", "A Pig Surprise" (the second Pudgy Pig episode), "Birds of a Feather" (first episode after Tommy originally lost his powers), "A Star is Born", and "Calamity Kimberly". Kelly also lent me a tape that contained the original Fox Kids PrimeTime broadcast of the season 2 three part premiere "The Mutiny", so that was REALLY cool. I don't have images for either of those tapes though unfortunately. My tape of six episodes is in a box somewhere with all the other recorded off TV tapes that we have, so I might have that dug out at some point.

And that my friends is the end of my journey through the Power Rangers VHS tapes that I've rented, seen at the video store, borrowed from a friend, and owned when I was a kid. It's a shorter post because I don't have alot of tapes to talk about really. Especially because I don't have them anymore so I can't watch them.

That's going to be it for me for today. I will be back tomorrow with my review of the season premiere of Love, Victor and then I'll go from there with what I'll be writing about this week. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The images used in this blog post were taken from Amazon, the Power Rangers Wiki, and morphinlegacy.com in the article on the history of Power Rangers on VHS.

http://www.morphinlegacy.com/2015/07/the-history-of-power-rangers-on-vhs.html

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was pretty great. Katie stopped by on Saturday and dropped off a ton of DVDs and Blu-rays for me to add to my collection. So I'll be catching up on movies from the last four years for quite a while. One of the DVDs she gave me was a 3-movie Collection consisting of Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). I've been waiting to see Afterlife since it came out in theatres last year so I'm glad I have it in my collection now. As you probably saw from the title of this review, I'm going to review Ghostbusters: Afterlife today because I watched it last night and I freaking loved it. So let's get into it. Oh, by the way, I am going to keep it relatively spoiler free, since the movie is only seven months old at this point but there will be some spoilers, mainly because well, it's Ghostbusters and you can't talk about returning cast members without some spoilers. So let's get into it.

The Ghostbusters franchise has been part of my life since I was a little kid. However, I didn't see the original 1984 movie until I was a teenager in the 2000s. My introduction to the Ghostbusters was the animated series that ran from 1986 until 1991, The Real Ghostbusters, which I'll be talking about at a later time, and I would also watch Ghostbusters II on VHS all the time too. My grandparents had it at their place so I borrowed it from them quite often. We didn't have a copy of the original movie when I was growing up. At least, I didn't think we did. However, my grandparents had taped a bunch of movies off the TV in the '80s which included Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman III, and Ghostbusters. Even though I had the entire original Star Wars trilogy on VHS, I borrowed all of those tapes from my grandparents and had a movie marathon of all of them over the course of a couple of days. I also had a ton of the The Real Ghostbusters action figures as well.

In 1997 a second Ghostbusters animated series, called Extreme Ghostbusters, aired in syndication. The premise of this series was Egon and Janine training a new generation of Ghostbusters as the ghost problem in New York City begins growing again and the original Ghostbusters are no longer together. This was the period where more animated series based on movies, comic books, and video games were on TV, like Earthworm Jim, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Tick, and Men in Black: The Series to name a few, and I watched alot of them. But I think that'll be a post for another time. 

When Afterlife was announced, I admit I was a bit concerned. Ghostbusters (2016) had not been received well by a particular group of the audience, who unfairly maligned the movie just because it was an all female cast...well an all female cast plus Chris Hemsworth. Which is unfortunate. I haven't seen the movie yet, though I do own it on DVD, so I can't say anything about the quality of the movie itself. So when this attempt at a fourth Ghostbusters movie was announced, I was hesitant, but when it was announced that the Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbusters movies, was going to direct this one and Ivan Reitman was going to produce it, I got excited. Especially because it seemed like they were doing a live action movie version of Extreme Ghostbusters as there are kids who become Ghostbusters and are motivated to do so by a mystery that Egon died trying to save the world from.

What I love about this movie is that, while it is very much tied into the original movie, it also does it's own thing. Phoebe is a scientist, like her grandfather, Egon, was, but she is also her own person who is trying not to let Egon haunt her, the way he seems to be haunting his daughter, Phoebe and Trevor's mom, Callie. And I don't mean haunting as in he's a ghost that is hounding Callie, I mean in the sense that his life as a scientist and as a Ghostbuster, and his obsession with trying to stop the return of Gozer, interfered with him being part of Callie's life, which made her bitter about it and kept all of that from both Phoebe and Trevor.

The cast of this movie is phenomenal. Of course we all know Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things (2016-present), It (2017), and It: Chapter Two (2019). Aside from Paul Rudd and the original Ghostbusters actors (Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts), the only other actor in this movie that I'm familiar with is Mckenna Grace who played Max's best friend/girlfriend, Rose, on Fuller House (2016-2020), and has appeared as Sheldon's friend, and maybe girlfriend, Paige, on Young Sheldon (2017-present). My favourite character in this entire movie though has to be Podcast played by Logan Kim. He's goofy and actually kind of reminds me of Ray Stantz (Dan Akroyd) from the first two movies, and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) reminds me of Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) a little bit. Which is pretty awesome.

Something else that I love about this movie is how they incorporate elements from The Real Ghostbusters into the movie. It's only two small things but as a fan of the series, I loved them both. The gunner seat that you see Phoebe pop out of Ecto-1 in is from the animated series, as is the radio controlled trap that drops from the bottom of Ecto-1 at different points in the movie. Which is cool. With the movie being a revamped version of Extreme Ghostbusters (kind of), it's nice that the people who made this movie acknowledged The Real Ghostbusters existed, which Ghostbusters II didn't, or were unable to, do even though the show was on when Ghostbusters II came out in 1989.

I smiled so much when Peter, Ray, Winston, and Egon's ghost arrived to help Phoebe and the other new Ghostbusters. Especially when Gozer once again asked Ray if he was a god, and, after some hesitation and a stern glare from both Peter and Winston, he remembered to take Winston's advice from the first movie, and said yes. They got blasted anyway, but still, Ray remembered after 35 years to say yes when asked if he was a god. I also smiled really hard during the end credits when the original Ray Parker Jr. version of "Ghostbusters" played over the beginning of the closing credits, and then went into mid-credits scenes with Janine and Winston, and then another with Peter and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) where Dana uses the electric shock machine on Peter that he used on that guy at the beginning of the original movie when trying to see if the girl had psychic abilities. So awesome.

I have only one very minor criticism about the movie. And that's that they immediately went with Gozer for the villain again in this movie even though they could've come up with another threat. I knew they weren't going to with Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters II, but they could've come up with a new threat fairly easily. But, I can't fault them too hard being that Gozer is the most recognizable villain in the Ghostbusters franchise. Oh and I also wish that Slimer was in it and that we'd have gotten the return of Walter Peck, but I guess they had the Slimer analogue with Muncher, the metal eating ghost, and they couldn't get William Atherton, the actor who played Peck, to come back either. Oh well.

Overall I had a really good time with this movie and I'm excited for the sequel, which was announced as being in development back in April, as well as the animated movie which is also in development. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend that you do because it's pretty good. Yes, it has that Stranger Things/The Goonies feel to it, but honestly, I'm okay with that. It's 2022, not 1984, movies like this are going to have that modern feeling to it whether it's a sequel, remake, or reboot. It's going to feel modern.

Alright folks that's going to be it for me for today. But I have more blog posts coming your way this week, including a review of the season premiere of Love, Victor, and maybe the entire 3rd season, depending on how much of the season drops this week on Disney+. So until then have a great day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x06 "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I'm back for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach". I don't have much else to say in this intro, so let's talk about the episode shall we? Let's get into it.

I've started to realize that some of the main plots for these episodes feel like they were lifted from the early Pocket Books novels and DC Comics comics for both TOS and TNG that were published in the '80s. Not because they ARE taken from the novels and comics, because as far as I know, they aren't, but they do feel like stories that would've been told in the novels and comics since the shows in the '60s and '80s didn't have the budgets to tell these kinds of stories, whereas a novelist or comic book writer had no problem putting these kinds of stories in the books and comics they wrote for the franchise. Particularly in the '80s and early '90s. I'm not complaining of course, because there are many stories in the novels and comics that are some of my favourite Star Trek stories of all time. But it's nice to see the franchise catching up to the imaginations of the franchise's writers without having to make alot of compromises.

Especially for this episode. Both Pike and Uhura are the focus of this episode and I am not upset about that because Pike's story is interesting in this episode, as it shows a past love he had when he was a lieutenant, presumably aboard the Enterprise under April. In other words, not Vina. 

I am honestly impressed with how tame the violence in this show has been compared to both Discovery and Picard. I mean it's not TOS cheesy, but it's also not super heavy and visceral like on the other two live action New Trek shows either. Which I appreciate because I don't like it when Star Trek is ultra violent. 

I'm not going to say too much about the rest of the main plot of the episode, but it is a pretty decent diplomatic story. I would like to talk about Uhura and her story for a bit. I really like we get to see her in a different department in every episode. Mainly because we saw Uhura do so many things in TOS. Like in some episodes she'd take the helm or navigation/weapons for Sulu and Chekov but for the most part a communications officer doesn't need to know to fly the ship or fire the weapons. But having her be on the ship and spending time in each department connects it to TOS just that much more. Plus it also ties it into what we saw with Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She was primarily the navigator, but could also take the science station if necessary. Plus Doctor Crusher was rated for command duties in TNG. That's cool.

I also love that we went back to Doctor M'Benga's daughter in this episode, and saw a bit of progression with it. Not so much that we got a resolution to it, but enough that it actually feels like the story is being carried forward instead of being held back. Which I really appreciate. So much early Star Trek would introduce plot threads that either never panned out, or took a season or two to get back to. So to have this show introduce threads and return to them often is great.

Overall this was another solid episode of SNW. I am having such a fun time with this Star Trek series. It's honestly my favourite modern Star Trek series, which I never thought I would say because I'm not a big TOS guy. TNG has been, and always will be, my Star Trek, and while I've always appreciated what TOS did, not just as the first series in the franchise, but what it did for television in general in the 1960s and beyond, it's never been my favourite series.

Alright my friends that's going to be it for me for this week. I've got lots in store for you next week so until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

A Personal Retrospective of The Goldbergs (2013)

 Hey everyone! How are you all doing today? I'm fine. It's a rainy day here, so I'm indoors for the most part. Which is fine because it gives me a chance to write this blog post. Today's topic is going to be the 2013 sitcom, The Goldbergs, which is about to go into it's tenth season and celebrate it's ninth anniversary. So let's get into it

I'd like to preface this overview/retrospective by saying I haven't watched anything from season 9. Though I do keep up with what has been going on through episode synopses on Wikipedia, so most of what I talk about here will be from seasons 1 through 7 and possibly a little bit from season 8, as that's where I stopped watching the show. This was because I felt the show had outstayed it's welcome being that 8 seasons, going into a ninth, was more than enough. There's only so many times we can watch Beverly smother her kids, even though all the kids are now adults at this point (Adam graduates high school at the end of season 9). Especially when the writers completely backtracked on her growth as a character after season 7 and even then it was wonky as to which writer remembered the Bevolution (Beverly's path to growth as a person and as a mother), which was started in season 5 and carried all the way through to season 7. I would like to say that the show isn't bad by any means, it's just started to spin it's wheels in season 7 and only picked up some momentum with the death of George Segal at the end of season 8, resulting in the death of Pops between seasons 8 and 9. But let's go back to 2013 and discuss what exactly The Goldbergs is and why I love the show even though I don't watch it anymore.

The Goldbergs is a fictional autobiographical sitcom based on the childhood of series creator, Adam F. Goldberg, and is set in the 1980s. I say fictional because he replaced his actual brother, Eric, with a fictional sister named Erica and characters such as Dana Caldwell and Lainey Lewis don't exist in real life. There are probably also some other changes that I'm not aware of too. The pilot episode, "The Circle of Driving", aired on September 24th, 2013, though I wouldn't start watching it until episode 3, "Mini Murray" that I started watching it. I don't even remember how I discovered the show. I think my mom told me about it because she saw it in the TV listings or something like that. Regardless I was hooked. 

Funnily enough it wasn't the '80s pop culture references that drew me in. In fact, the '80s setting felt like the background to me. What drew me in and kept me watching week after week, season after season, was the characters. They were so authentic because Adam checked every script to make sure Beverly would act how the real Beverly would act, or how Barry or Murray or himself or Pops would act. There was a bit more leeway with Erica since Adam doesn't have a sister in real life, and she only has a passing resemblance to Adam's brother, Eric. 

Not only that but as ridiculous as Barry, Erica, and Beverly are, there's not a single character I hate on this show even though Barry was very obnoxious during the first two or three seasons. Basically until he started dating Lainey, which I won't even get into right now because of the whole Schooled fiasco, which is going to be a post all of it's own in the future, I promise. My point is that as exaggerated as these characters were, they felt like real people, because they're based on real people, either directly or indirectly. 

I also liked how Adam refused to lock the series down into a particular year. The idea is that the show is set in the '80s, and by leaving it ambiguous as to what year the first season was set in, it avoids the need to end the series at ten seasons if the show began in 1980, and it also avoids the complications that That '70s Show ran into when it began being set in 1976, four years away from the end of the decade, and then ran for 8 seasons, necessitating the show be set in 1978 from midway through season 3 until eight episodes into season 6, and then 1979 until the end of season 8. But, again, that's going to be a post for another time. What this means for The Goldbergs is that they could talk about any movie, TV show, book, music, or comic book that came out in the '80s and not have it break the timeline if a thing came out in 1986 but the episode was set in 1982. 

To this day, season 5 is still my favourite season of the entire show. Maybe because it was my return to the series after having missed most of season 4 due to having major abdominal surgery and being stuck in bed, either at the hospital, or at home, for the majority of the season. But I think it has to do with the fact that this whole season was firing on all cylinders. The writing was consistently good, the characters finally began changing and growing as people, after having stagnated slightly in what I saw of season 4. Plus it was the first season to feature my favourite couple on the entire show, Adam and Jackie. Partly because Rowan Blanchard did an amazing job in the role, but partly because the two got along so well due to both Adam and Jackie being total geeks together, at a time when being a geek was heavily frowned upon.

Even though he's the youngest of the Goldberg children, I identified with Adam the most. He's a geek, I'm a geek, and we share the same interests for the most part. Though I heavily disagree with him about Star Trek (he doesn't like it). Sean Giambrone does such a wonderful job of portraying Adam as a kid and as a teenager, it's spectacular.  

I'm gonna come back and do reviews of the first seven seasons of the show in the future, but I really just wanted to talk about how awesome I think this show is, even if I don't watch it anymore and even though I think the tenth season should be it's last. Especially with George Segal (Pops) having passed away last year, and Jeff Garlin (Murray) having been fired for misconduct on the set midway through the season. Like, I'm sure they're going to write Murray out of the show between season 9 and season 10 simply because Jeff Garlin is fired and they only have so much additional footage to use with him in it.

Anyways, that's it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. So until then have a wonderful rest of your day and I will talk to you later. Take care my friends.