[Tiste Simeon]

NEEEEEER- I mean hey thanks for the breakdown I've got prime I might check out Picard (though is that a bad place to start?)

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 August 2025 - 09:38 AM, said:

NEEEEEER- I mean hey thanks for the breakdown I've got prime I might check out Picard (though is that a bad place to start?)

Guilty!

I think it definitely lands better after TNG - it's heavily tied in with a lot of visiting recurring characters. It's a mixed bag to begin with - but the final series in particular is absolutely a love letter to TNG and wouldn't work at all without it.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 01 August 2025 - 10:54 AM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 August 2025 - 09:38 AM, said:

NEEEEEER- I mean hey thanks for the breakdown I've got prime I might check out Picard (though is that a bad place to start?)

You'd still be giving money to Paramount.

It would be more ethical to find a way to watch it that wouldn't...

[Edit: on second thought, perhaps Amazon just buys the rights to a show from Paramount for a specific time period in advance, instead of paying Paramount on the basis of views. In that case, they use viewership numbers during that period to decide whether to also buy the rights for a subsequent period (it's a bit like neuron activation... neurons either fire or they don't, no partial activation). But in terms of expected value you're effectively giving money to Paramount... ghostly fractions of future possible money (that investors will pay real money now for---like Schrodinger's fractional quantum ghosts of the future... (because the great thing about analogies is that they let us explain things we don't understand fully enough in terms of things we understand even less!---like reality, beyond our heuristic wells...).]

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 01 August 2025 - 12:33 PM

[Abyss]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 01 August 2025 - 10:54 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 01 August 2025 - 09:38 AM, said:

NEEEEEER- I mean hey thanks for the breakdown I've got prime I might check out Picard (though is that a bad place to start?)

Guilty!

I think it definitely lands better after TNG - it's heavily tied in with a lot of visiting recurring characters. It's a mixed bag to begin with - but the final series in particular is absolutely a love letter to TNG and wouldn't work at all without it.

I'd go one further and say to appreciate Picard you need TNG (Including the movies) and Voyager. Not a deep dive, following any credible 'best of' list would cover you.

[Briar King]

Have not watched much “tv” other then Weather Channel, News and attempting to get caught up on past Live PD v2 so I can start watching the live broadcast each weekend again. I got a long way to go being on S2 ep 56. Holy shit it’s going to take some time.

I did spend 5 hours a day for 2 days to go through Mobland S1. It’s fun and dark. It’s no Sopranos but it has potential.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 22 April 2025 - 12:41 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 22 April 2025 - 11:17 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 April 2025 - 07:48 PM, said:

Apple TV

Any other "must watch" shows while I have it?

ACAPULCO, it's got similar "Good, wholesome, hopeful" TV vibes to Lasso. Entertaining all the way through.

Never heard of it but I'll add it to the list!

Heads up, I thought this show ended with the last episode of S3...but the other day I got Apple TV again after not having it for a few months and lo and behold they are 3 eps into a 4th season...so more for the content wheel.

[Tsundoku]

Watching S02E02 of Wednesday, I found this quite droll:

Attached File(s)

•  wednesday captain.jpg (23.03K)
  Number of downloads: 0

[QuickTidal]

Watched Episode 1 & 2 of ALIEN EARTH (both of which dropped on D+ last night), and as a fan of this franchise all I can say is wow. Blowing open the lore, but also touchstoning the originals (the Maginot feels like the Nostromo inside uniforms, design, tech layout ect.) while also giving us a masterclass in shots and blocking, an exquisite score…the opening apes ALIEN (obvs), but about halfway through you get some ALIENS with the S&R team from Prodigy inside the Maginot wreckage (also the Maginot? As in the Maginot line; is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Nazi Germany and force them to move around the fortifications….that can’t be a coincidence) and then some Romulus too…the rest of my comments will be in bullet point and spoilered for ease of reading/discussing:

Spoiler

1. I LOVE that the ship that crashes is W/Y but it crashes in the domain of the Prodigy corp, owned by a teen trillionaire CEO Boy Kavalier (Peter Pan obvs)….in which he’s called salvaging rights. Love that right off the hop we are dealing with how the world is divided between corporations.
2. Kersh is a wild card. A synth who SEEMS to work for Kavalier/Prodigy, but in quieter moments has a sort of “We are our own thing” with Wendy…so I can see that coming to a head.
3. LOVE Wendy and the Lost Boys being formerly ill young kids in mentality, but having to deal with being in durable adult synth bodies…they all play it very well. The best moment was when Wendy shares the info about her brother but says it’s a secret and the lost boy she tells IMMEDIATELY blabs.
4. Did I mention that the score is IMMACULATE? Jeff Russo outdid himself.
5. The Cinematography, for a TV show, even a prestige one, is evocative as hell….at moments aping every film in the franchise.
6. The short interaction between Boy Kavalier, and Yutani herself is perfect. She stands, impeccably dressed, in a sterile but expensive and beautiful and clearly expensive floor to ceiling windowed room high up in a building, the city behind her…he’s literally got a tablet and is rolling about in a grungier backdrop, at one point holding it with his feet, or propping it beside him in bed…the juxtaposition is…chefs kiss.
7. Kirsh has the cherriest line in the first two eps…as the Lost boys and he are headed down part of the Maginot in ep 2…”Fear is for animals and you are not animals”
8. I love that they didn’t draw out Wendy reuniting with her brother. They very much could have. But then of course he gets attacked by the xeno…

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 13 August 2025 - 01:09 PM

[Briar King]

Alien Earth esp 1-2 were ok. Much better than the latest movies. I liked they are adding some things that are in these 30+yr old Steven Perry books I’m reading into it like the various Companies. Also I liked how deadly the Xeno was instead of the old slow monster movie way tech forces it to be in old movies. It’s body count was probably higher in ep 2 then in A1-4 combined.

Onboard for now.

[worry]

Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical (on Apple TV) -- this was pretty good, though not top tier. It has a good if overly-familiar plot, it maintains the Peanuts tone, it updates the animation style pretty tastefully, and the songs are quite good.

It is a little weird (for Peanuts) that it's a musical in the spontaneous singing kind of way, as opposed to like A Charlie Brown Christmas where the songs are in-world. It's also a little thin overall because of this. Like it's only 40 minutes and has quite a few songs, so it's pretty much all plot-moving & songs without room for the slice-of-life vignettes that make Peanuts so special. Almost everyone is here, but nobody really gets major screen time aside from Charlie Brown, Sally, and Snoopy/Woodstock. The crisis also gets wrapped up pretty simply, but oh well. These are cons, but all kind of mild ones.

[QuickTidal]

ALIEN EARTH Episode 3 was insanely good. Dark as heck.

Spoiler

Firstly, I am now 100% convinced that Kirsh is either based on Roy Batty's Replicant structure from Blade Runner (Ridley has already said his hair is intentional) and that Prodigy when it rose up as a company and wanted to get in the Synth race against the much bigger and longer existing Corpo's like W/Y, chose to salvage from the now-defunct Tyrell Corporation (Or it's successor Wallace) for schematics, and Kirsh is a Synth by way of Roy Batty...his attitude about how he and the others are superior to humans, including his master (Boy) is what you'd get if you mixed David up in a bowl with Roy Batty. I think we will get a late season reveal of that connection, even if they dint use all the names due to copyright (though is Warner Bros and Amazon are smart, they use ALIEN EARTH as a crossover chance for the BLADE RUNNER 2099 show...which in canon timeline takes place the very year that Yutani completes it's takeover of Weyland Industries to form Weyland-Yutani...

Jeezus I know too much about this stuff.

Anyways, I really like the plot lines of all the Lost Boys and Wendy having separate but interesting thrusts. I think Nibs is the only transferred kid who is rejecting her Synth body....I think the Octop-eye thingie triggered that and is the reason she poked her own synthetic eye at the end....and she's going to snap. Wendy being able to sense the range of sound frequency that the Xeno's are on is a neat connection and I wonder where it will go....I'm also curious about how reverent the Xeno who died in this ep was to not only Wendy, but then to Hermit her brother....I understand it has no parasitic interest in Wendy since she's a Synth now, but Hermit should be fair game...so I'm interested in that. Speaking of, the lung scene was insane, with Kirsh in mad scientist goggles and all. Curly having that weird competitive convo with Boy about Wendy was ick...

Morrow VS Kirsh was....chefs kiss. Every line of dialogue was perfect.

Morrow then having an in with the kids by plating the device on Slightly's neck was cool too.

I'm loving this show.

Oh, and the flashback episode (Next week) about what actually happened aboard USCSS Maginot  is called "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream" ...which again...firing on all cylinders Noah Hawley.

Timothy Olyphant is the MVP of this series so far, followed closely by Babou Ceesay, and Sydney Chandler...

[QuickTidal]

ALIEN EARTH episode 4...

Spoiler

Okay, T. Ocellus taking over the ELECTRIC SHEEP body and trying to stand on two legs is going give me fucking nightmares.

Another banger episode. a bit slower overall as it does a lot of character work, but I'm loving all of it.

Kirsh is still the best....

[champ]

I am waiting for the season to be finished before binging Alien Earth. I cannot wait!

[Briar King]

Alien Earth. Yes it’s better than the last few movies but I’m beginning to meh out the last 2 episodes. Nothing I’ve seen so far makes me think I ll ever be rewatching this in future. Hopefully tonight s ep brings some kinda excitement.

I’m over the kiddos behavior as the weeks have gone by. To much real time passing and it’s becoming annoying. A full drop/binge would have helped with this show.

Tim might be the only good thing about this in the end for me at this rate and that ain’t enough to tickle my pickle for future watches.

[QuickTidal]

We are watching different shows.

I don't know how any of what you said applies to this show.

[Briar King]

Well okey dokey I suppose we are watching a different show if you’re not watching Alien Earth with middle school antics and featuring Tim Oly.

[Abyss]

I'm waiting for the season to end to watch ALIEN EARTH, but the upthread split really captures the general online reaction... people are very very split on this.

[Briar King]

What split though? I gave the show a compliment by saying it’s better than the movies lately however it wasn’t screaming rewatch rewatch thus far.

Alien Earth ep 5….brafuckingvo. Like a mini Alien movie. Thankfully no annoying kiddy shit.

I do wonder if there is a right eyed partner out there missing its lefty lover/thing…. So far it’s always going in left eye socket. That’s not nothing.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Briar King, on 03 September 2025 - 07:45 PM, said:

What split though? I gave the show a compliment by saying it's better than the movies lately however it wasn't screaming rewatch rewatch thus far.

Alien Earth ep 5….brafuckingvo. Like a mini Alien movie. Thankfully no annoying kiddy shit.

I do wonder if there is a right eyed partner out there missing its lefty lover/thing…. So far it's always going in left eye socket. That's not nothing.

Quote

Neuroscientist explains why you should always look into someone's left eye

[...] a simple trick that she believes everyone should follow when engaging in conversation, particularly on a date.

[...] Dr Swart is a neuroscientist and medical doctor who holds a senior lecturer position at MIT Sloan. She is the author of 'The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life' and 'The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain', and also hosts the Reinvent Yourself podcast. [...] since most people are right-handed, they tend to cradle their babies in their left arm, leaving their dominant hand free. Consequently, when they gaze into their child's eyes, their right eye usually aligns with the baby's left eye.

Neuroscientist explains why you should always look into someone's left eye - Bristol Live

One of my old Ericksonian hypnosis teachers taught me this a long time ago... though without confirmation from some sort of large-scale study that controls for the emotional state of the person looking into aforementioned left eye (probably using computer generated imagery---maybe in virtual reality) I remain a bit skeptical.

Personally I'm going to wait until all the episodes are out to watch. The alien does seem like an excellent role model for future social skills... or at least a fun one.

Not sure whether I should also rewatch Prometheus and watch that one with Fassbender in it (Covenant that's it) first since they happen before it (in-universe)---I'd guess that watching Romulus first is not strongly recommended since it comes afterwards (and because AI told me it's not), or maybe not?

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 03 September 2025 - 06:05 PM, said:

if you’re not watching Alien Earth with middle school antics and featuring Tim Oly.

Abyss, on 03 September 2025 - 06:21 PM, said:

I'm waiting for the season to end to watch ALIEN EARTH, but the upthread split really captures the general online reaction... people are very very split on this.

Briar King, on 03 September 2025 - 07:45 PM, said:

Thankfully no annoying kiddy shit.

The concept of the show, that of a corporation (one of the 5 that run the earth and inner system planets), run by essentially a deeply socially malformed and avaricious kid (boy genius) who thinks of himself like Peter Pan, taking the notion of synths and adding in transferring human consciousness to them to gain a leg up on the existing synths made by W/Y and the other companies....but doing so with the minds of terminally ill kids transferred into adult bodies AND sending them into an unknown war zone crash with multiple alien xenoforms...fits exactly into the zeitgeist of the franchise being about what makes us human, what makes them monsters, what makes us monsters, ect.

Aside from that we have a script that explores all angles of such a transfer and all the exploits they are vulnerable to:

Spoiler

Wendy - Can't let go of her past, but has a connection to the xenomorphs through their hive chatter; is a kid but is forced to act like a mother to the others, which then transfers to the xeno.
Curly - Wants to be Wendy, exhibiting childlike jealousy in an adult body and seems to be using it to her advantage when she can.
Nibs - Absolutely crashing out, and is seemingly rejecting the transfer, her mind being ready to snap...exhibiting childish tendencies like playing with dolls....but then claiming to be pregnant to the point of violence when Dame Sylvia pressed her on not being human.
Slightly - Being carefully manipulated by an adult cyborg who is vastly smarter than he is.
Smee - A big dopey scaredy-cat, who has enough strength to manage himself, but fear keeps him tamped down.
Tootles - who is the "Michael" standin in the Peter Pan analogy, trying the hardest to abandon his childish ways and be an adult, becoming Isaac Newton.

On top of that you have Boy Kavalier quoting his own demise "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." but false attributing it to Asimov, when it was Clarke. Showing that his "genius" is filled with hubris and he has massive blind spots.

Are they acting like kids? Sure in some instances, but in others they are attempting to act like adults, to varying levels of success. That's a fascinating study of human nature, and I'm not sure why that's not landing for you. Nor would I ever call it "kiddy shit"...that's wildly reductive.

As to episode 5: "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream" AKA "What happened aboard the Maginot"

Spoiler

I think the way that T. Ocellus went after the Xenomorph so hardcore suggests (to me anyways) that they share a biome, as do (I think) the Space Ticks...because T. Ocellus proved that she (confirmed to be a female by Noah Hawley) can infect/puppet things by becoming their eye, or going in another way....the xenomoprh has evolved without eyes...makes you wonder if that's an evolutionary trait to avoid being taken over by a neighbouring creature like T. Ocellus....and the space ticks feed on blood....the xeno has acid for blood...what if that's another evolutionary trait to avoid THAT creature. I dunno, maybe they came from seperate biomes, and these are coincidences...either way.

I am now Team Morrow. It turns out that HE's the Ripley of the Maginot. The only one who was thinking about containment, and survival, and was right bang on the money every time...the acting captain was incompetent, the scientists were hubristic and incompetent, ect. The only other person on the ship besides Morrow with a brain was the Irish Engineer....and he went out like a champ.

You watch he first episode and think Morrow is being cold and emotionally cruel to not let Zaveri into the computer room, but after seeing her in action you understand that she was a liability from the jump and all throughout the events of the episode she makes shitty decision after shitty decision...he was not about to let her in and fuck something else up.

It's also fascinating that Morrow's daughter who he left behind, died in a fire 8 years after he left (a mere hypersleep for him), after having rejected the Weyland yutani schools due to their bias and her desire to go to an old world school which they could not afford...I feel like W/Y had her killed to tie up loose ends...either way, it humanizes the shit out of him.

Babou Ceesay is KILLING it on this show. He is the MVP, followed by Olyphant.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 September 2025 - 12:27 PM