The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge
May 1-31, 2023

The list thread is now active.

May is just about a week away, so it's time, once again, to take a look at your dusty, unopened box sets, your unwatched stacks of Blu-rays, DVDs, HD-DVDs, LDs, VHS or Beta tapes, your DVR, your Netflix queue, etc., etc., and decide what you think you should spend 31 days watching. Now's your chance to finally watch all the stuff that didn't fit, or that you just didn't get around to, during the other Challenges.

Since you choose your own Challenge theme, you make the rules.

There are however a few guidelines which everyone should follow.

Challenge Guidelines:

The Challenge runs from May 1 through May 31.

Sure, you can do your May MYOC in September if you want, but the list thread will only be stickied during May, so if you want anyone else to see what you're up to, please try to do it near those dates.

Please state your challenge theme and your challenge goal and rules (if any) at the top of your list(s) in the list thread so others can tell what you're doing.

Please don't duplicate an existing "Official" DVD Talk Challenge.

This guideline is mainly here so we don't subtract from participation in any of the other Challenges, and to encourage participants to focus on genres not already covered by a Challenge, but since everyone's "need to watch" list is different, and you're able to watch stuff that qualifies for one or more of the other Challenges during every other Challenge, you're free to narrow the focus of one of the broader "Official" Challenges.

For example; Say you only collect horror, then you could make your Challenge to watch just horror films, or just horror TV shows, or just zombie films, etc. Or if you have lots of unwatched Sci-Fi, then your MYOC could be just watch Sci-Fi movies, or watch Star Trek shows, or watch TOS, etc.

Here's Trevor's handy-dandy list of Challenges from his "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium thread:


DVDTalk Challenge Schedule
<table border="4"> <tr><td>
Month
</td><td>Month-long Challenge</td><td>
Partial Month Challenge
</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>January</td><td>TV</td><td>Holiday ends on the 1st; varying Academy Award</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>February</td><td>Musical/Romance/Music</td><td>varying Academy Award</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>March</td><td>Action/Adventure/Crime</td><td>varying Academy Award</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>April</td><td>Drive-In/Exploitation/B-Movie</td><td>none</td></tr> <tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>May</td><td>Make-Your-Own</td><td>none</td></tr> <tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>June</td><td>Historical Appreciation</td><td>none</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>July</td><td>Sci-Fi/Fantasy</td><td>none</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>August</td><td>Animation</td><td>none</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>September</td><td>Arthouse/Indy</td><td>none</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>October</td><td>Horror</td><td>none</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#CCCCCC><td>November</td><td>Comedy</td><td>Holiday starts week of Thanksgiving</td></tr><tr bgcolor=#FFCC66><td>December</td><td>Holiday</td><td>none</td></tr></table>

Since we already have Monthly "Unwatched Media Pile" Threads, please do not use that as a theme.

During past MYOCs, people weren't happy with this being used as a theme, and I tend to agree that it is a little lazy. So how about giving a little thought to the theme and coming up with something a little more creative, please?

Check out the previous challenge threads for ideas:
2010 discussion thread.
2010 list thread.
2011 discussion thread.
2011 list thread.
2012 discussion thread.
2012 list thread.
2013 discussion thread.
2013 list thread.
2014 discussion thread.
2014 list thread.
2015 discussion thread.
2015 list thread.
2016 discussion thread.
2016 list thread.
2017 discussion thread.
2017 list thread.
2018 discussion thread.
2018 list thread.
2019 discussion thread.
2019 list thread.
2020 discussion thread.
2020 list thread.
2021 discussion thread.
2021 list thread.
2022 discussion thread.
2022 list thread.

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I have no idea what my challenge will be this year. Usually the idea comes to me several months before the challenge, but no inspiration this year. :shrug:

Anyway, here's the thread if anyone is interested.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Looking forward to it. Planning to do a sequel to last years theme. :)

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I think I'll follow up on a trend the wife and I started during the Academy Award challenge and call it coffee and vinyl. As we watch something, it must either show a scene with coffee or vinyl in some fashion. And bold points for both. So, it will be one of those challenges that we won't know if it will qualify until we watch. Unless it's something like High Fidelity, of course.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I'm seriously considering doing a folk horror challenge basing it around the box set All the Haunts Be Ours from Severin. I'd go through the set and also watch some of the movies mentioned in the included documentary but which weren't included in the set.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I could steal your theme. I have tons of unwatched horror TV. I think your post from last year alerted me to a few shows that I hadn't even heard about (that I now have - unwatched).
I kind of already do this with comic books, but I like this "scavenger hunt" idea...

EDIT: Please don't start a "Movies that feature coffee or vinyl" thread, because I already look too closely at any old albums I see in movies...

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I was on the fence, since I had no idea what to do. I think I may do a Childhood Challenge. This mainly meaning TV shows I watched growing up. Possibly throwing in some movies as well.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Been slacking on my wrestling, so im probably gonna just do all wrestling.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I usually do something which allows me to continue my never-ending attack on my unwatched pile. Twice before, I did a 50+ films in 50+ years focus, simply watching movies from different years. I fell short of 50 previously, so maybe I can pull it off in 2023.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I'm still not sure what I'll do. I thought about kind of extending my last two challenges; moving on from Dollar Tree & thrift store purchases to DVDs and Blu-rays I got for free, but I don't know if I have enough I haven't watched to make that interesting. I still like the "scavenger hunt" idea, and could easily do one for my second favorite thing to spot in movies: Coca Cola. Just watch what ever I feel like watching, and only list it if I see a Coke ad, bottle, can, etc. somewhere in the movie. (This will probably be what I choose, if I don't think of something better by Monday.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I decided a few days ago that I wanted to watch westerns next month, but I also wanted to watch at least a few Japanese and World War II movies that would qualify for a historical challenge. I started thinking about meaningless distinctions that would permit me to begin June's Historical Appreciation Challenge in May, when the solution came to me. "Women hold up half the sky" is a famous quote by Mao Zedong, the source of the title of Half the Sky, a book about oppression of women by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I decided to watch historical movies and TV with the goal of making half my watches works directed or co-directed by women. My first thought was that I couldn't watch much and reach this goal, but then I thought about the number of documentaries, many of them short, directed by women on the Criterion Channel and National Film Board of Canada. So I'll give it a go, and use this challenge to push me to watch or re-watch some qualifying movies by Agnieszka Holland, Jane Campion, Gillian Armstrong, Joan Micklin Silver, Deepa Mehta, Kelly Reichardt, etc.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I’ve been slacking on my Star Trek franchise journey so I’ll get back to that.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Well, I haven't thought of anything else, so I'm going on a Coca Cola scavenger hunt (in addition to my ongoing search for comics, of course). This will allow me to watch stuff at random, plus catch up on a few movies I was thinking about watching in April, but put aside.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Theme change!

I’m a dinosaur still getting Netflix physical rental discs. When I notice an interesting movie is in theaters, I’ll throw it on my Netflix queue. When/if ever it’s available to rent, I’ll move it up in my queue to watch it, or wait till the appropriate challenge month. I was sitting here looking at two discs that were too late or not appropriate for the B movie challenge and thinking about how all the horror stuff in my queue isn’t going to last till October because the service shuts down in September. So this month’s new theme is… Clearing Out My Netflix DVD Queue, in which I try to whittle down the queue that has built up for years. Due to the problems of the US mail, I probably won’t get more than a couple discs per week, but I bet some of the titles will be streaming somewhere, which would totally count. I’ll probably hold off on stuff that can still qualify for historical/sci-fi etc., which means probably a lot of horror and random stuff. :)

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I finally got a coffee and vinyl sighting in one of the new episodes of Titans over the weekend.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I've been watching the first season of Batwoman the past few days. It's... OK, but really *just* OK.

Also watched S5 of The Flash. After the 2nd season this one started to go downhill for me. S5 didn't change that. It's better than Batwoman but nothing I see myself revisiting more than another time or two.

Also worked in a rewatch (IIRC the 3rd for each) of the Nolan Batman Trilogy. I'm not a fan of these films but found them a bit better than I'd remembered. I *still* have several issues with each that pretty much take me out of them but... Can't see myself rewatching these often either and would still rather watch Batman Forever or Batman & Robin.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

A couple days ago I got the 5 episode DVD of the first Centurions disc. I noticed now that I've watched a couple of the episodes that the opening narration sounded like it was done by the same man who did The Superfriends. Iirc, I believe they were aired around the same time.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Towards the beginning of the challenge, I discovered that Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World was available on YouTube. And since it was on my local PBS station when I was young, it counted. I just finished the series tonight. Very enjoyable.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

My International and LGBTQ+ challenge is going well. I've been able to finish watching the Michelle Yeoh collection on Criterion Channel as well as Eureka's Joseph Kuo box set. If you subscribe to Criterion Channel, I cannot recommend the Yeoh collection enough. All the films are worth a watch, especially if you like martial arts action. I've also started watching The Great North which as a great gay character who fits into one of my favorite emerging trope: The Idiot Queer Character. I first noticed this in The Sarah Silverman Program and ParaNorman and there are also recent examples in She-Ra: Princesses of Power, Gravity Falls and The Dragon Prince.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I've made it to S3 of Batwoman - with a couple of detours for movies. I'm not surprised it was cancelled and didn't get much love. Not that it's "bad" but more that it didn't live up to its potential. I don't think the main character has been the primary focus of more than a few episodes in S2 & S3 (at least the first 1/3 of S3). By the middle of the second season it mostly seems to be about the original Batwoman's twin sister, thought dead but very much alive, who's more of a Harley Quinn type (almost like she's channeling the movies featuring that character). And she's far more interesting than either of the two people who've been in the Batwoman costume. Even the "cave bound sidekick" (kind of like Barbara Gordon's Oracle but in person) has a more interesting story line than the S2/S3 Batwoman. In general, it's good enough and not the train wreck I was expecting.

The detour movies were Wonder Woman 1984 and the ABC TV extended version of Superman the Movie.

Wonder Woman 1984 was just OK. It felt quite bloated and just didn't have the energy and drive of the original Wonder Woman movie. There were lots of things that could, and should, have been cut to bring it down to a ~90 minute movie which *would* have told the same story a bit better. It could easily have done without the opening segment on Themyscira, when Diana was young and participating in a heroic challenge contest against adults. It was interesting and fun but, IMHO, didn't do enough for the primary story to warrant its inclusion. I also didn't like the primary villain - felt more like a bad TV evangelist than a threat.

I was surprised that 3+ hour cut of Superman the Movie didn't feel that long. I'm pretty sure I'd watched it on TV when it aired but that was loooong ago so... There were absolutely scenes I don't recall being in the theatrical cut - scenes that mostly helped the story.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Dimension X, I found one for your challenge yesterday: I was watching Forever Knight (season 1 episode "Only The Lonely") and just past the 35 minute mark as the characters drive up in a car, behind them in the background is a highway where a big red Coke truck drives by. Couldn't help but think of you. :)

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Hmm, Coke truck is one Coke-branded thing I haven't seen yet this month. I thought I saw one reflected in a window in something I watched recently, but it turned out to be a newspaper delivery van.:(

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Shifted gears to the 1970s series Wonder Woman. I've never seen much of this one before, purchased it on DVD that I never watched beyond about half the first season, and then upgraded it to BR when a really good price came along. So... I'm now watching it mostly for the first time... and it's quite cheesy, especially that first season. That cheesiness doesn't go away as it progresses but does lessen a bit. The vfx of Diana changing into Wonder Woman has greatly improved since S1 but there's a significant amount of scene re-use. Seems there were a few episodes early on that pretty much established her powers, especially the jumping stuff, and the scenes from one or two episodes are repeated very, very frequently. I've always had an issue with Lyle Wagoner as I'd seen him for years on The Carol Burnett Show. As he was always doing comedy stuff with Burnett, suddenly having him in a more serious series always felt off - and still does. Not that he's bad, as he really isn't. It's more of a feeling he's somewhat miscast. Season 2 introduces the more "modern" time (roughly the same time as the years of production) and that Diana now works for an intelligence agency (of sorts). They have some high tech "robots" (frankly the entire computer system) that are just not that well conceived and are played more in a "humorous" vein that is truly groan inducing (and I'd have groaned even more loudly back then had I seen these episodes). In spite of the frequent cheesiness of the scripts, acting, fight scenes, etc., it's a decently fun series that's had a few interesting episodes. It's also most obviously a product of its time that truly hasn't aged that well.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...3e3b331243.jpg

Mostly Coca-Cola truck (mostly) featured in The Last Chase (1981). I saw this movie a lot on cable. :D

Screenshot courtesy MST3K episode on YT.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I'm not having much luck this week, so I might end up using that one and hank's. :lol:

Plus, I saw another red newspaper delivery van in a movie this week. :(

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Found another one for the Coke challenge: Hemlock Grove - Season 1, episode 6 - "The Crucible". About 15 minutes in one of the characters is drinking a coke from a glass coke bottle. Also, around the 30 minute mark a character asks for and is given a cherry coke.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Here are a few more Coke appearances

Shaun of the Dead. Fairly early in the film Shaun goes to the shop to get a Coke/Diet Coke.

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) - a Coke bottle falls from the sky setting off the events of the movie.

A Coke vending machine makes an appearance in Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I kind of wish I had made it a more generic "soft drink" spotting challenge. I've seen Pepsi, Tab (a Coca-Cola product), RC, Seven-Up, and Shasta (and maybe some I'm forgetting).

I thought about adding a "No Coke, Pepsi!" sub-group while watching Death Wish 4 & 5 (which had Pepsi, but not Coke) during the first week, and even grabbed screen shots, but I didn't keep at it, so it's too late now.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I don't think I'd have gone into a specific product placement theme without having a very good list of qualifying movies up front. But I also don' t pay attention to product placements unless they're done in some kind of manner that draws attention to the product (like in the 3 films I mentioned) which means I'd not likely have even considered such a challenge. And it's a pretty good one that really does present a challenge, even if it'd been a generic product placement theme (see the product and cite it in the list along with the film viewed).

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I don't think it's "product placement" in most cases. Coca-Cola signs are all over the place, so they show up in a lot of films. I figured it would be safe to pick without having a list of films to go by. With some of the crap I watch, the backgrounds (often actual places) are more interesting to watch than the actors. :shrug:

If I do it again, I think I'll make a list of things to find.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

My challenge was derailed by a trip out of town, but I did pick off a couple pairs: The Descent 1 and 2, which I have no idea why they were on my list. :lol: Typical teen scares. I did like X/Pearl, especially the latter. While X was more of a slasher in an interesting period setting, Pearl was an intriguing character study in a different period setting. I’m in for the third installment when it comes out.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

This was one of my more successful MYOC in the past few years. I accomplished both of my goals. I watched all of the movies and TV shows in the folk horror box set All the Haunts Be Ours including most of the short films (I missed one) and watched a bunch of the movies mentioned in the included documentary as being folk horror. I exceeded my goal of 40 movies and watched a total of 46 films or TV shows and 12 short films.

Overall I enjoyed all of the things in the box set which had a very international flavor. There were items from the UK, the US, Canada, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Russia, Italy, Australia, Norway, and Iceland! Not everything struck me as horror. A few seemed to be dramas with a few horror type elements but not intended to evoke the typical horror reactions. Still, I found all to be at least interesting (if sometimes a little long). The shorts ranged from full fledged horror to documentaries that shed light on some of the topics covered by the longer films.

The included booklet was also interesting containing articles by different authors. Some were related to one of the included films while others were more general topics related to folk horror. Several of the articles had a strong academic style but all were readable although I wouldn't want to sit down and read the whole thing straight through.

I'm glad I picked up this set. Of course I liked some of the movies more than others. If you subscribe to Shudder, about a dozen of the twenty movies from this set are available under the Folk Horror category. This includes the excellent if long and a little overwhelming documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.

I didn't listen to any of the commentaries or many of the special features and there are a ton of films mentioned in the documentary that I haven't seen so in the great horror tradition there may be a Part Two in a future challenge.

A big thanks to Dimension X for running this challenge. I always look forward to it even if sometimes my topics don't work out as well as this one did.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

Well, I slacked off and didn't watch much the last week or so of the month. I still had a good time with this impromptu challenge and could see myself doing similar "scavenger hunts" in the future (if I don't have a proper theme planned out already), only with a wider list of things to find, so I can list more of what I watch.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated. See ya next time!

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I was hoping to add a few more "complete series" to my list, but time got away from me so I had to settle for just "season 1" for a few of the shows I watched. Accidentally crossing over into the Coke challenge was fun, kudos Dimension X for such an inventive theme.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I don't deserve any kudos. I basically stole the idea from Indy24LA.

EDIT: Wow, kudos to you for noticing that Coke truck passing by in the background in Forever Knight. I almost missed it, and I was looking for it.

I added screenshots for the ones mentioned by you and others to my list post. Thanks, folks.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I did not watch as many sitcoms as I would have liked this challenge but I made my way through a few more seasons from the '90s that I missed in their initial runs. It certainly was a different era of TV.

I watched all three seasons of Black Books which I quite enjoyed -- it seemed like a zany Brit version of Seinfeld. Also I watched the first season of Bridget & Eamon which I ended up enjoying too. I will need to check out the remaining seasons.

Thanks Dimension X for hosting another fun challenge! :D

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

As expected, there's coffee in a lot of what we watched. The really fun part was spotting the vinyl. Thanks Dimension X for running a challenging challenge.

Re: The Fourteenth Annual May Make-Your-Own Challenge **Discussion Thread**
 

I really enjoyed traveling back to my childhood and watching so many nostalgic things. I didn't get as much in as I would have liked since family news took the wind out of my sails. Thanks for stepping up again and making this happen Dimension X.