Messages

1

Film & TV / Re: Wesley Crusher?

« on: Today at 09:19:21 AM »

For me and and the reason I didn’t take to “Wesley” as a character was the perception that it was jobs for the boys. Yes he was smarter than your average bear but just because his mum was the ships Doctor shouldn’t have allowed that kind of access to the Captain/ bridge regulations and all that.

It was the Traveller who convinced Picard that Wesley should be treated differently.

It's fair to say that viewer dislike of Wesley translated unfairly to Wheaton and he's lived with it ever since. Considering how badly he was apparently treated on set and the mess that his home life was, I'm amazed he isn't a complete write-off.

2

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 18 January, 2021, 02:26:41 PM »

The hunt for Red October. I forgot how great that movie is.

God yes, it's very high on my re-watchability list. Alec Baldwin's self-sure, all-in, take-no-prisoners Ryan is still the best depiction of that character IMO, and with that supporting cast...perfection!

3

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 18 January, 2021, 02:23:19 PM »

I may be wrong but I think, quite a while ago, Spielberg said that he wouldn't do the family stuff in CE3K the same.

I would hope not!

CE3K is too entrenched in my movie history for me to analyse effectively, and I must have watched it 50 times by now. It's my "go back to a simpler time" escape hatch. Even as a kid I could see that Roy wasn't entirely sympathetic.

4

Film & TV / Re: The Expanse

« on: 13 January, 2021, 02:00:19 PM »

Huh. Can't say we've ever had a problem with that.

5

Megazine / Re: Meg 427: The Ssspiritsss Of The Ssseason!

« on: 13 January, 2021, 09:37:40 AM »

I didn't comment at the time but I also thought 427 was exceptional.

6

Film & TV / Re: The Expanse

« on: 12 January, 2021, 09:20:43 AM »

We're just cracking on with Season 5 right now. It's essentially flawless.

7

Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 11 January, 2021, 02:29:31 PM »

I lost track of The Expanse when finishing up season 2.  There was all that crap about the future of the series being uncertain and I wasn't keen to get into another situation that I had with Stargate Universe.

I hear you. It's a chewy one, but in the end even if Expanse had finished after S3, I would much rather have enjoyed all those hours of awesome sci-fi than denied myself on the risk that I might not see an ending.

In fact S3 would have been a perfectly acceptable spot for Expanse to finish. Major story arcs enjoy closure all the time in that show. It's a good model for creating epic, long-form, episodic TV that doesn't leave the audience hanging on fundamentals should it suffer an untimely demise.

All that said, Expanse is hugely admired, performs great, and is now on Amazon. I don't see it going anywhere.

8

Film & TV / Re: Doctor Who (13th Doctor)

« on: 06 January, 2021, 09:45:27 AM »

I enjoyed the last episode and it will be a pity if Jodie is replaced (just as I got into her interpretation of The Doctor).

Me too. One of the papers described it as "meat and potatoes Who" which I thought was accurate.

9

General / Re: Big Up Dredd

« on: 02 January, 2021, 01:01:08 PM »

I doubt there's many on this forum who haven't seen Dredd multiple times. Good point though--I might stream it next time to push those metrics.

10

Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 28 December, 2020, 06:41:35 PM »

The Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive vol. 4).

11

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 28 December, 2020, 06:38:59 PM »

I enjoy the recent trilogy for the spectacle it is--much as how I enjoyed the prequels for the same reason. This will carry me for a few watches before I lose interest. Much as I love the three-way light-sabre duel in Phantom Menace, Maul still gets punked by Obi-Wan at the end, and I can listen to Duel of the Fates any time I want...thus, I haven't watched the film in years. I suspect the same thing will happen with the latest three, especially since the series' narrative choices rubbed the shine off whatever excellent goodwill TFA earned with me.

In the end that's what grinds my gears. To have embarked on these films with no plan, no three-act structure, no metaplot under which any number of top-tier directors would have happily gone to work...it's inexplicable and, to my mind, unforgivable.

12

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 28 December, 2020, 06:18:54 PM »

It makes no sense, not only disregarding established continuity but also not even being able to keep its own internal narrative rules straight.

JJA has very definite opinions about the attention span of his audience.  I still remember how the opening shot of his Star Trek reboot is a spaceship flying through space making spaceship noises, and then a minute later another spaceship is shooting very loud space lasers, while many loud space explosions happen.  Then someone falls out of a door or something into space, which is deathly silent because there is no noise in space.

This tired old thing? Cinema plays with reality at every turn, yet somehow it's wrong when sci-fi does it.

13

Off Topic / Re: Merry Christmas 2020

« on: 25 December, 2020, 12:36:02 PM »

Merry Christmas to all forum Squaxx, to the droids that have pushed their charge levels into the red getting us a year of non-stop thrill power, and to Tharg for his steadfast refusal to abandon Earth as we limp from one crisis to another.  Here's to a much-improved 2021 and more incomparable thrills.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

14

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 23 December, 2020, 01:44:48 PM »

We started of with Pirates of the Caribbean which I remember really enjoying in the cinema (sequels not so much). On a rewatch it's really not that good - there's some striking sequences with the undead pirates and it looks really good, but it's really carried by Depp and Geoffrey Rush and if you take them out the rest of the film is pretty weak. Furthermore if you've started to find Depp's pirate schtick tiresome then it's basically Barbosa or nothing.

If you take out the good bits, it's...less good?

15

General / Re: Not sure where to post this, but...

« on: 16 December, 2020, 05:19:53 PM »

Dammit I have *never* had a 2000AD reference picked up by a rando squaxx!