Travis McClain

Last night I watched The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel for the first time. I found the first a generic, paint-by-numbers origin story. It was also sloppy from start to finish and became more irksome as I wrote my Letterboxd diary and recalling specific moments drew my attention to how sloppy it was. I liked the cast, but they were given weak, dry material. The second opens with some truly awful CGI and did nothing to inspire confidence. I was pleasantly surprised thereafter, though. I actually enjoyed it. It was fun. Garfield got to showcase some more charisma as Peter and lot more as Spidey. I was also surprised when the end credits rolled and I saw that it had been co-written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. It's still riddled with their obnoxious ignorance about how any technology works (a laptop on an airplane in 1996 was most definitely not uploading anything anywhere, let alone transmitting video files in a matter of minutes, nor is an entire power grid restored within one minute) or anything to do with protocol (a high school student doesn't oversee interns and she sure doesn't have access, let alone skill set, to waltz into a secure research facility and synthesize an antidote all on her own), but overall I found it considerably less convoluted and more mature than a lot of their other work (looking at you, Star Trek and Transformers movies). Amazing 2 might be my second favorite live action Spider-Man movie to this point, honestly. I know that's heresy but there it is.

BobO'Link

I finished S4 of ST: Discovery - and it was a slog to make it to the end. The writing is horrible on this series, often coming off amateurish, like something out of (bad) fan fiction, with lots of trite, downright funny (unintentionally so) lines. Few of the actors did what I'd consider to be a "good" job - Doug Jones as Saru, Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly, and Tara Rosling as President T'Rina are the only ones I was happy to see on screen. Chelah Horsdal as Federation President Laira Rillak was "OK" but had to suffer through some horrendous dialog. She was *much* better in Amazon's The Man in the High Castle. In addition to disliking most of the main cast, I very much disliked all of the new crew members, especially the pair of teenagers (the "Wesley" clone and the "ghost" kid who was transferred into an android body). The story went on far too long - absolutely dragging with lengthy and far too frequent "character development" sections that went nowhere and never made me care more about them (FWIW - I generally don't like that stuff anyway so there's that). And the entity at the heart of the "cloud" wasn't V-Ger but almost as disappointing as that reveal from ST:TMP. Frankly, *had* it been V-Ger, or something similar, it'd have been more satisfying. This 13 episode story should have been 2, or possibly 3, episodes at most. The serialized story did no one any favors. Sonequa Martin-Green still can't deliver a line without whispering it. In spite of my generally negative feelings about Discovery, I'm glad I've seen it and glad S5 hasn't dropped as I'm quite tired of this series. I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

LJG765

Sorry to hear this! Hope you're still doing okay and are on the upswing!

Travis and I just finished watching Kazaam. It was definitely a movie. A movie that we watched. I will say it did not age well and leave it at that.

The last couple days of the challenge are coming up... Don't forget double credit on Sunday with the Animation Challenge!

shadokitty

I think I am starting to feel a little better today, thanks. I’m still far from perfect, but so far it feels like yesterday was the worst. So I might be on the upswing now. I’m looking forward to tomorrow myself and already have a couple things on my DVR. Last night I watched a few episodes of Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors. It was interesting that only three episodes into disc 1 was the obligatory hero becomes evil for some reason. Most shows normally waited a while for those type of episodes.

BobO'Link

It took me a few episodes to get past Starbuck being a woman as well. Like you said, though, it was worth sticking it out and getting used to that change as the series is superior to the original in many areas, not the least of which is the dagget and Boxey (I was worried when the character appeared in E1 and grateful when he disappeared by E3). It just keeps getting better as it goes along. Unlike many viewers of the new version, I wasn't bothered by the ending and felt like it was quite logical. I re-watch the series every couple of years.

BobO'Link

Researchers stumble upon a crashed ship in the Artic and accidentally trigger reanimation of the apparently dead bodies which come to life, rebuild the ship, and get into orbit. Captain Archer and the Enterprise crew manage to avert disaster but the Borg ship manages to get off the coordinates of Earth in a "SOS" type transmission - one that won't reach its destination for ~200 years, setting up some of the things that happen in other Trek series.

I did not like the episode but it at least didn't introduce them into that continuity as a regular antagonist. I agree with Brannon Braga, who initially refused to feature the Borg in Enterprise, calling it a "cheap trick". He relented after hearing the premise of the episode. I feel he should have stuck to his guns.

BobO'Link

Well that stinks on both events! Hopefully you're not too bad off and at least have power back.

shadokitty

I’ve missed some days for sci fi, so I started early today. A tv show off of my DVR. I followed that up with a short of Transformers Rescue Bots Academy. I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised by the light hearted tone of the show, and really liked Whirl. Since my PS4 was hooked up, I decided to watch some Voltron on Apple TV. I’m still at the beginning of the rewatch there, having only just finished when the new castle appears.

BobO'Link

I just finished episode 10 of Strange New Worlds, wrapping up the first season. That's a Trek series I can easily get behind as it's the closest to the feel and spirit of TOS than any of the newer Trek series. While there *is* an underlying continuing story (essentially that Pike has foreseen his future and knows of his impending disability - something that drives his every move), it's negligible with the main story being stand-alone each episode. And those main stories are good. The only "lesser" one would have fit right in TOS as one of those throw-away type episodes. Doing a re-watch of the series would find that one to be the only one I'd consider skipping. It's also the only one of the new Trek series I'll be purchasing on physical media (once it's been made available).

Trevor

Spent the last several days binging Stranger Things from the beginning. Working today, so won’t finish season four for this Challenge. But I won’t be waiting until next July to finish it, fun show!

shadokitty

Last night while I was using my PS4, I decided to check out sci fi offerings on YouTube. Besides the rather poor movies, there were plenty of series. Both animated and live. I watched a few episodes of Robotech, as well as the first two episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ​​​​​​. While I agree with the earlier stated sentiment preferring DVDs, at the same time, some I like the ease of access with streaming. Especially since something strange about my PS4, is I can only play region free discs. Everything else gives a wrong region error. I turned the episode off, but I also saw that Super Dimension Macross was also on YouTube. I know Hasbro has legally posted their cartoons on YouTube as well.

LJG765

Today is the last day of the challenge. One last reminder that it is a crossover day with the Animation Challenge. Good luck to anyone trying to finish up their checklist or finish a series!

shadokitty

Rest In Peace. I just happened to look at my phone and there was a Bing notification that Nichelle Nichols has passed away at 89. Definitely be one to add to a memoriam next year.

LJG765

I just saw this too. Very sad day. And yes, I'll add her name right now.

LJG765

This is a little off topic, but I'm the host, so I give myself permission. I don't know if anyone has heard of Sporcle, but it's a website where you take quizzes. There's thousands of them of all different types. Sports, books, science, literature, many others including entertainment (movies and tv shows).There's a creator who made a sci-fi movie quiz list. Most of them are concerning 1950s Sci-fi movies but there are a few others that are more general. The few I've played have been fun to do if you're looking for a bit of a time waste. You can find the list here.
Site is free, you don't even have to sign in to play the quizzes but your stats don't save unless you create a log in.

Travis McClain

I didn't do much exploring this year. I'd meant to check out more grown-up science-fiction stuff this year but only got to one movie: Happy as Lazzaro. I disagree with the large number of reviews who praise it as inspiring because Lazzaro always chooses to do the right thing because he's pure of heart. Lazzaro goes along with a lot of things because he's too innocent to realize why he shouldn't. Those are not the same thing.

Mostly, I squeezed in three animated Netflix shows (LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar, Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, and Masters of the Universe: Revelation), which I enjoyed overall. I revisited some things I hadn't seen in awhile (Lilo & Stitch is still fantastic, The Flintstones is a much more charming and enjoyable movie than I remembered, and Super Mario Bros. is still every bit as disappointing as I remembered). Of my first time viewings, Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe was about what I wanted it to be, The Mitchells vs. the Machines was as good as I'd heard, and somehow R.I.P.D. was even worse than I'd heard--and I'd heard it was terrible. Free Guy was entertaining and had its heart in the right place. Its whole message was undermined by its finale, but I still liked it overall.

I ended with going through several Spider-Man movies. I decided at the last minute to include the MCU crossover movies in which he appears, which meant revisiting Captain America: Civil War and finally seeing Avengers: Infinity War. I'm just gonna say it: Steve Rogers is the Kathryn Janeway of the MCU. Dude is constantly making unilateral decisions he won't even discuss with anyone else or consider any other point of view about, then makes a big deal out of how he won't back down because he knows he's right even if no one else sees it, and that self-righteousness is aggravating in itself, but what puts it over the top and into Janeway territory is that his self-righteousness will contradict itself from movie to movie. A lot of people get killed during an Avengers mission in Sokovia? "Not everybody gets saved." Vision requests to be killed to stop Thanos from completing his set of Infinity Stones, which will enable him to make good on his mission to wipe out half the universe? "We don't trade lives." The only thing you can count on Cap to do is piss people off and be smug about it.

LJG765

And that's a wrap! Another challenge in the books! I'll give everybody several days to finish their lists and do a final post at that point. I feel like a lot of Trek was talked about and hopefully watched! I also agree with Travis about RIPD. That was not a good movie.

I'm personally pretty pleased with how many watches I got in. I watched something every day, even though a couple of those were just shorts days but I did it! I also was able to finish the checklist which is always a goal for me.

How did you guys do? Get some good watches in? Were you able to finish a series or season you've been putting off?

BobO'Link

I did much better than I expected to do - got in 150 "viewings" and watched a *ton* of Star Trek content, enough that I could easily call it the "Star Trek Challenge"...

I finished Discovery (still don't care for it though S3 is, IMHO, the best season of that one). Watched all of Lower Decks and found it somewhat interesting but I don't care for the animation style or frenetic "acting" (the current style in most animated series). Sampled Prodigy - didn't like it at all as it's just too much like every other cartoon aimed at kids these days and really feels like the Star Trek bit is pasted on. Picard is "OK" but *just* OK and, like Discovery, nothing I'd ever really want to revisit. I've read that most (all?) of the TNG cast/crew are making an appearance in S3 so that *could* be interesting but I've no real desire to do a Paramount+ sub just for that. And... Strange New Worlds was a very, very, pleasant surprise in the current style of dark/dismal/downer Trek series. I enjoyed it so much that I'm planning to watch it through another time before cancelling my cheap Paramoun+ subscription - something I can't say about any of the other Trek series currently in production. It's good enough to *almost* make me want to subscribe to watch the next season (though I'll just wait for the disc release).

I watched enough of the "new" (if you call 1995 "new") Outer Limits series to know I want to spring for the complete series set. What I saw in those first half dozen or so episodes was quite good.

And I watched S1 of Amazon's The Boys. It's interesting and good enough that I'll watch the rest of what's available (since it's part of my Prime membership - why not?). It deals with superheros that were created with corporate profit in mind and the repercussions of some of them being not so "good" as they're portrayed with a small group of vigilantes after them to take them out. And I've already given away a bit of a plot point that's not brought out until late into the season so won't comment further to prevent spoiling what's going on. I'll just say it's a good, interesting, take on the genre.

I watched a movie called Synchronicity (2015) which has an interesting time travel premise but fails miserably when it comes to acting/directing/editing/dialog/score. I can safely say it's unlikely I'll watch it again.

Due to the passing of Nichelle Nichols I finished the challenge with a half dozen episodes of Star Trek in honor of her and the other crew members who are no longer with us.

I also noticed that IMDB no longer calls Star Trek "Star Trek: The Original Series" but simply "Star Trek" and it actually comes up first when you search that phrase. I'm guessing it's due to Ms. Nichols passing but needs to stay that way. IMHO these need to come up in alphabetical and "year of release" order (any movie/series searched for that matter) rather than the apparent order of "popularity" that's typically used.

shadokitty

I didn’t really make a lot of progress, except to clear out my DVR somewhat. I did still have fun though, and with most years, I appreciated being able to count when I felt like listening to an episode of Coast to Coast AM, given that I am on a six month renewal plan that I always renew, especially given that I can rarely stay up all night to listen live. When it got closer to August, I did start getting antsy for cartoons, so watched some episodes. I also kind of discovered a new appreciation for Henry Danger ​​​​​​. I’d mostly ignored it before, given that it was a Nick show, but it actually is an enjoyable and lighthearted super hero comedy series.

LJG765

Hey, nothing wrong with that! Travis and I sync'd up several years ago and watched ST:TOS, TAS, and the movies and it was an enjoyable month. It did sound like you didn't enjoy the newer series very much, but at least now you can say you watched them!

Sounds like you did make some progress! Might not have been what you anticipated, but clearing off the DVR is always a good thing!

lisadoris

Even though I didn't post, I did participate in the Challenge by re-watching Buffy and Angel. The later seasons of Buffy were not my favorite and I do wonder if the writers stopped liking their main characters. It was also not very diverse: I counted 25 black actors with speaking roles over the course of 7 seasons. If they remake this series, hopefully that will improve. This might be blasphemous to say but Angel was more consistent (and more diverse too).

BobO'Link

This, exactly. I've seen them so no longer wonder about them and can safely go back to those I *do* enjoy. I *can* say that after watching all those new series I have a new appreciation for TNG - what was once at the bottom of my Trek list. There are now 4 Trek series I'd rank lower - much lower...

LJG765

I've loosely held the goal of going back and rewatching these shows the past few years but have held up because I'm not sure they'd hold up for me. I loved them when they originally aired but now I'm wondering how they aged. Especially now that we know more info about how Whedon treated his actresses. I still occasionally listen to the soundtrack of Once More with Feeling though!

TNG was my introduction to the Trek world. I"m pretty sure that no matter how bad it was, I'd still like it, but agree. I think it holds up fairly well as when I do go back and watch episodes, I'm still enjoying the watch. Are there bad epis or arcs? Yep, but that's any show. They picked their actors well and they really meshed together, I think.

lisadoris

Yeah if you look at the story lines for most of the female characters, it's odd we didn't realize how much of a problem Whedon was at the time. I was going to go watch Dollhouse because I haven't seen any of the episodes then I re-read the premise and my consent senses started pinging and once again thought to myself, how didn't we know this man was a problem. Needless to say, I didn't watch it.

davidh777

TOS has always been the peak for me, but I’m always open to new stories and characters (and visual effects) in the same universe, and I’ve enjoyed TNG, DS9, and VOY as well. With my cheap months of P+, I’ve finished about 20 episodes of Discovery, and though I thought the first season was pretty good, the second one isn’t grabbing me. I thought my strategy might be to finish this series before unsubscribing, leaving me with a clean path for when I subscribe later to finish my Trek journey, but I decided to switch to Lower Decks to fit the animation challenge.

I never saw Buffy during its run, so years ago I decided to watch the whole run. I’m still at it! The early seasons were great, but now I’m just picking off a handful of episodes when the challenges line up (fortunately it qualifies for many) and just trying to get through it. The Whedon stuff puts a pall on it, which is too bad because for years he was held up as an example for creating strong female characters.

I watched Dollhouse in its original run and thought it was worth the time. A little inconsistent, I think, but some good concepts and moments. But if it unsettles you now, there’s plenty of other choices to make.