Twilight

I saw Black Panther today.  It was really good up until the point they started to try and make the villain sympathetic, which was a step to far for me.  You want to make your villain a remorseless murderer and terrorist who kills the people he claims he's trying to protect? Fine.  Just don't try and make me feel sorry for him because that ship has already sailed.  I walked out of the movie at that point.

23 hours ago, death tribble said:

The 25th Anniversary of Raw is War was according to various wrestling reporting bodies underwhelming. While many old hands turned up like The Million Dollar Man and The APA, nothing major happened. Yes Mr McMahon was Stone Cold stunnered and the Dudley Boys put someone through a table. But otherwise it was felt to be a letdown. Roman Reigns lost the Intercontinental Title to The Miz. The Undertaker appeared and seemed to confirm his retirement.

Also all the fans who showed up to the Manhattan Center were hosed, as the majority of the show was held in another building entirely.  JR and Jerry Lawler had so little to do that they fell asleep at the commentary table.

On 1/3/2018 at 6:08 PM, Old Man said:

I was under the impression that the Huns fielded two or three helmet variants during that war.  I don't think they all had the bolts.

I was under the impression that they started with the Pickelhaube (hope I spelt that right) helmet but they ended up switching it out because it was absolutely useless for protecting the head.  The helmet design associated with the Nazis started use at the end of WW1, since it actually provided better protection.

I mean they pretty well abandoned most of THor's proper appearance (red hair, beard) for Marvel already, but historically Mjolnir is supposed to be have a short handle, awkward to use in a fight, but useful to throw,

Yes, as a result of it being sabotaged during it's construction if I recall the myth correctly.  By Loki, if memory serves.

Hippy-dippy boomer woo-woo utopian pipe dreams has never done much for me. Oddly, the boomers who produced TOS created a show that was less of that than this one is claiming to be. I have seen every episode of trek prior to this series, but will happily skip this one. We've had 28 seasons of Trek prior to this, not including TAS. The only way we'd ever need more would be if it were actually good. The only new Trek I'm interested in at this stage is the reboot films

Discovery is claiming to be utopian pipe dreams, really? Because in the show I watched they're claiming to be at war with the Klingons with Discovery explicitly stated to be working on technologies to enable them to win said conflict.

Don't know enough about the detectors. Spray paint would probably set it off. A layer of duct tape would probably work.

Steam from the shower sets off the fire alarm at my place, so yeah I'd imagine spray paint would do the trick too.

I honestly think it's a little of both - she's clearly intended to be too intelligent for such a deception to hold (especially since he wants her working on it) if it was pure fabrication. 

 

 

Though pure bio-weapon *would* be easier to hand-wave away and fit in to Trek. They were always finding abandoned research or failed prototypes of doomsday weapons.

 

True, though as she was raised among Vulcans it's a possibility that detecting falsehood isn't something she's necessarily good at.  Not because she's stupid but because she was raised by a people who are noted for being very honest.  Most of the Federation believe 'Vulcans don't lie' is an undeniable fact after all.

I liked last night's episode - pretty much the only way for Michael to remain on the show, even if it's been done before (Tom Paris from Voyager).

 

But....

 

 

I agree with the complaint the tech is too high.  Holographic communication was something that was being explored in the time of DS9, not pre-TOS... and invariably whatever they're trying to do with these spores must fail if they even want to pretend to adhere to a timeline, as the Enterprise wasn't powered by space mushrooms.  I could see the people in TOS not knowing about top secret research vessels from the Klingon war - top secret and all - but I have a harder time believing working technology from these vessels not being mentioned or used so...

 

To be fair

Again, I actually liked what I saw for the most part. Just not enough to subscribe to CBS.

 

In fact, does anyone know whether there are commercials on the CBS pay channel? Because I had to fast forward through a lot of commercials during the pilot.

 

edit: Found the answer--$6/mo with commercials, $10/mo without.

I didn't have to join the CBS pay channel to view the episodes, so that shows that in some places it can be viewed without that.  That might only be in Canada though, in which case it's not helpful to you.

I have nothing productive to say here, other than "thank you" for the critiques everybody. There is nothing here I didn't already suspect and nothing that is going to sway me to watch the pilot for a show that is apparently doomed before it starts. Neither am I in anyway going to subscribe to YASS (Yet Another Streaming Service) just to watch that same doomed show limp towards oblivion.

 

Great job CBS. Way to make your mark upon a beloved franchise. 

Stop complaining about shows you were never going to watch in the first place Nolgroth!

I should have worded that more accurately. 'I had several episodes to get to know Spock. He had years of character development"

 

But you're making my point. ELEVEN EPISODES versus out of the gate. Spock, we had 11 episodes to get to know the guy better, learn that almost anything he did was out of logic and loyalty. Burnham? it's presumed 7 years of loyalty, we are told, not shown. Show don't tell beats told not shown to most. 

 

I'm not saying STD is terrible. I gave it a 6 out of 10. I do think having the protagonist commit Mutiny so quickly is off putting.  And, again, YMMV

 

 

EDIT: And I am typoing all over the place as it is.

I disagree given that the Captain and the Admiral were being monumentally stupid at the time.  They had evidence that the Klingons were a violent people after all, the Admiral admitted that the Federation had been in a state of Cold War with them for years and Michael's history indicates that the Klingons had attacked the Vulcans within her lifetime.  So they're facing off with the fleet of a hostile force who've attacked their allies, in that situation shoot first is not an irrational nor illogical idea.  Heck the Vulcans thought it was the logical plan.

Anyway, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this point. 

Yes.

 

Yes I did.

 

But then I'm a McCoy fan

 

 

Also, how do I say this...

 

I had several episodes to get to know Spock, years of character development

 

starting out with him doing in the first episode? I might have gone 'wth?'

 

 

 

 

Try to save your mutiny for when you've earned some of the audience's love and trust. Spock earned his moments of defiance. I don't think Mikey did.

 

 

YMMV

Spock's mutiny happened in the 11th episode of the first season so no, you did not have years of character development.  Plus he was also guilty of hijacking the Enterprise too boot.

Yeah, that's what some folks are telling me

 

"What did I miss?"

 

"oh, our heroine, after 7 years of loyal service..."

"Commits Mutiny in the pilot"

 

 

And I'm thinking

 

and I'm supposed to root for this person ?

You didn't complain when Spock did it, did you?

So I've seen the first two episodes of the show and....I liked what I saw.  It was darker then I expected certainly and way different from previous Trek that I've seen but that's not a bad thing.  Michael's not a bad protagonist, not quite on the level of folks like Kirk, Picard or Sisko but it's only been two episodes in and thus far I've been given ample reason to stay tuned to see how she develops.  Given the end of the second episode, I'm curious how she's going to remain an active character.

As for the Klingons, their new look didn't bother me.  They actually look alien now and as far as I'm concerned it's wonderful and it looks like they're going to be making some attempt to explore Klingon society beyond repeating honour and courage ad nauseaum. 

So in their eagerness to denounce the left, Trump supporters actually called the counter protestors fascists and Nazis.  These people really can't be THAT stupid can they?

Near as I can tell there were hardly any people at this one, so at least the casualty count would be low.

Somebody posted a picture from the rally on Twitter.  There were more people at the town fair last year in my hometown then there were at the rally.

And the fact that the Antifa showed up armed shows intent and malice aforethought. THAT'S the equivalency.

If they were expressing a philosophy of hatred and genocide maybe, but they weren't.  Nor did they murder anybody.  Ergo there is no equivalency.

IMO, we should encourage China to install a better-behaved puppet government.

I actually believe that's what China will do.

You would be wrong.  If NK falls, the net result will be a unified Korea, allied with us, directly on the border with China.  If we strike first, that will be perceived as a "regime change" move.  The PRC will not tolerate that.  

Let's just agree to disagree then.

They won't back NK if it strikes first, but if we strike first, they will defend NK.  Making the pre-emptive strike idea even worse.  

I actually don't think so.  The US and it's allies are big trading partners for China now, even though Trump likely doesn't like it, I don't see China throwing that away on behalf of the Kims.  There'd be nothing in it for them.

China may stand with sanctions, but they won't stand for a nuclear bomb being used against someone so close to them geographically. And unlike the NK, China has nukes that work.

 

I have always believed China is so heavily invested in peace that they can be pushed a long way before breaking. But seeing Pyongyang go up in atomic fire is a provocation no national can abide.

 

No fallout shelter for me, though. If all-out nuclear war does come, I want to be as close to ground zero as possible so I would die swiftly and not have to deal with an agonizing, slow death from fallout and riot.

I rather doubt it would get that far.  China might be devoted to peace but their government aren't exactly nice and I imagine if the Kims keep poking the Tribble Haired Cheeto Man the way they are, they might arrange for the Kims to encounter some sort of fatal misfortune.  Much preferable then firing off nukes I'd imagine and I have to think there's not much benefit to China in backing the Kims these days.

I'd forgotten "Angle Man" I must admit. Would they have him with the "Angler" device, and how would it work on film ?

If memory serves it's a reality warping device, so I'd imagine it'd be some Inception style special effects.  In theory it's a villain power that could end up looking better in a movie then it does in the comics.  That being said unless they've got a really good story for him, he's probably better as a henchman then a main villain.

Circe, Cheetah, Giganta, Dr. Cyber, Dr. Psycho, any of these could be good villains for a Wonder Woman movie.  Sure not all Wonder Woman's villains are good but even Batman had to deal with losers like The Condiment King and Penny Plunderer from time to time.  Focus on the high points, not the low points.

Wonder Woman doesn't have the same CvK in the comics and hasn't for a long time. Very different in that the comic portrayal of Wonder Woman kills.

Actually for the longest time she did have that, as is quite appropriate for a person who's mission is supposed to be one of peace.

Exactly how was Zod "helpless" in that scene? He was restrained by Superman yes but that was far from a permanent situation and given that Zod was the superior fighter between the two, he'd likely have freed himself.  He wasn't stripped of his powers or anything and was getting stronger as he absorbed solar energy.  There was no prison that could hold Zod and he'd flat out said he was going to wipe out humanity, not killing him would have been incredibly unethical as it would risk the lives of thousands at the very least.  Plus, killing Zod's crew has been something Superman has done in the comics to keep them from wreaking havoc and destruction.