I haven't ever watched the DS9 or the TAS sequel. I do plan on catching TAS next month during the animation challenge. The disc has both of them, actually, so I hope to watch DS9 sometime before the end of the month.

I should have been watching something this afternoon, but was feeling lazy. I hope to watch more Trek tonight. I'm uncertain if I'm going to finish the checklist. I think I'm going to get the majority of it done (I'm pretty close to it now), but there's just a few items that I don't feel like watching at the moment and I'm dragging my feet about watching them. Mainly the kaiju and the martial arts fantasy along with prehistoric.

I may have to go out of order on the Trek front and watch "First Contact" as it would get rid of some of my remaining marks but we'll see if I can find replacements for those instead.

Once upon a time, "The Trouble with Tribbles" was the most famous ST episode of all and it was assumed that everyone had seen it. But that was a long time ago and whole generations have been born who will probably never experience the joy of seeing "Tribbles" for the first time. I'm grateful that you are among the lucky ones who have experienced that joy.

Even though I'm running the challenge, I actually have a question. I know True Blood and the Dark Shadows movie is considered fantasy, so what would people say about the Dark Shadows revival from the 90s?

Tribble-ations was the first DS9 episode I ever watched.

Haven't seen it but would think it would have to qualify unless the Dark Shadows characters are wearing Scooby Doo-villain-type costumes.

did you happen to see the recent parody Futurama did with Scooby and the gang - I was on the floor laughing hysterically.

I started from the very beginning with "Emissary". My friend can attest that I hated it. We talked about it in the gym before class started the next morning and I complained about everything down to the color font they used for the credits (I truly did!). But I kept watching anyway and it quickly became my favorite spin-off of the entire franchise. There are even times when I think I prefer it to the original series, though making my way back through TOS this month has tipped the scales against DS9.

I just want to say that while I've enjoyed running this challenge, minus the few hiccups at the beginning, the time it takes is more than I think I can commit to next year. While I will be happy to participate, even hough I am retired, I have a lot of family committments, such as sick parents and a sick grandmother who just recently had a stroke.

As the original series is carries Fantasy among its genre tags I'd think it's an oversight that the later one doesn't have that genre tag as well. IMHO - count it.

Oh, this wasn't the first time viewing for me for that episode. I have watched it several times. Even before I picked up the series sets, I had a couple of compilations that had it on. But I agree, it's a classic episode and everyone should see it!

Sorry to hear that. Best wishes to your family.

Thank you.

Sorry to hear that. Let's hope that things are better for you next year and you can do it again. If not, make a post in the "Challenges Compendium" thread a couple months before the Challenge starts to let us know. There has to be someone else who wants to take on the headaches wonderful opportunity of running a challenge or two.

Just a heads up ... I've started a sheep game for Fantasy in the movie forum. From the movies and tv some of you have been watching, you might be in the frame of mind to play. Some of my questions were inspired by your checklist and some of the discussion that I've seen in the thread. There's still room for another 10 players.

Unfortunately, it hasn't felt like a good time to me to do this challenge. I was away on vacation for a couple of weeks. And my Netflix queue is backlogged that I've been scrambling to shorten it up (with movies of all genres). Though scanning back, I've gotten a number of sci-fi/fantasy watched in July:

Secret World of Arriety
Man of Steel
This is the End
Thale
Mama
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Cloud Atlas
Doomsday Book
Hereafter
The Thing (2011)
Lunopolis
Doctor Strange (Marvel animation)
Superman vs. the Elite
Upstream Color
Looper

What David said.

I formally decline here and now, forever and for always! Though maybe it'd be easier for me. I could just combine Historical Appreciation with Sci-Fi/Fantasy and completely negate all the squabbling over eligibility in the former. It'd be a two-month challenge across time and space, with cowboys and aliens, as the gods of yore intended....

I just watched the final episode of the Glory story arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and was curious. I had seen it before, but this time I got to thinking. With the way it ended, and considering the villain for that season was a Goddess, does anyone know if that season was intended to be the final season of the show?

Sorry to hear about your family issues. We've recently gone through many similar things. It can be very stressful and draining. Hang in there.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

IIRC its renewal was in doubt, and it was written as a season finale that could pass as a series finale if necessary. There are people who think that the show would have been better off overall ending at season five. In a lot of ways the episode would have been a good ending.

Here's a bit of a head scratcher. I was looking for sci fi animation to ease my itch till the animation challenge begins, and I happened to look up G.I. Joe. Some of G.I Joe hasa genre tag of sci fi. Some doesn't. Yet MASK, also has a genre tag of sci fi.

Yeah, that fits. Personally, I will never understand why people dislike the last two seasons. While there are some narrative missteps, the big story arcs are funny, poignant, and work. Some of my favorite episodes come from seasons six and seven.

So I watched Aliens (1986) for the very first time yesterday. Wow, just wow! Loved every minute of it. The film is so suspenseful that my friend and I kept jumping and talking/cursing at the screen. Man, the aliens are scary!

Game over man, game over! Aliens is one of my all-time favorite films and though it is blasphemous to say it, in many ways, I like it more than the original. Since I went to school in the Iowa cornfields where there wasn't that much to do, my friends and I would rent movies on the weekends and spend the next week quoting them. Aliens was by far the most quotable film and the film we watched most often (the video store didn't have the widest selection - this was before DVDs were widespread).

I couldn't wait for next months animation challenge so I started watching The Clone Wars last night. I'm only a few episodes in but so far they are better than the prequel films. Anakin is way less annoying and immature here than he is in the films. I was hoping Jar Jar Binks would not make an appearance in the cartoons but alas I've already had to sit through two episodes of his antics. The character is no less offensive in the cartoons than he is in the films. Please tell me he isn't in any future episodes.

The Dracula legacy disc arrived in my local library today so I'm going to see how many monster movies I can make my way through.

I remember Roger Ebert's review at the time. He gave it a thumbs down. But not because he thought it was a bad movie ... rather, it was too scary and intense for him to enjoy. A rare case of a negative review making me want to see a movie more.

Upstream Color really sticking with me. I was leery going in that it would be too "experimental" for me to enjoy (and Primer left me a bit cold and confused). But it really worked well for me. Wonderful photography and use of sounds. Though at times it was disorienting it was engrossing and all came together by the end.

I've never read Ebert's review (which is odd as he's my general "go to guy" for movie reviews - no matter what he says I can generally tell from his review if I'll like a film or not - I miss his "voice"...) but that's one I've never cared for. When it came out a coworker saw it and was raving about it. After a screening I argued it's a standard Bruce Willis type "action" film done without Willis on another planet with creatures instead of some crazy/insurgent/maniac providing the needed "edge of your seat" moments. To be fair, I've never cared for such films so it's rather natural I'd not much care for Aliens. My sister is a huge "action" film fan. I don't know if she's seen the film but I *do* know she'd like it. I know I'll take grief for it but I like Prometheus better than Aliens.

**EDIT**
I just read Ebert's review. It's very good and generally I agree with him. If I'm interpreting the system on the new site correctly he gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars. I also liked his final comments:

Oh please... The Fly remake is a far gnarlier film than Aliens ...that film made me want to throw up more so