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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of His Dark Materials, Star Trek: Discovery, The Mandalorian, and The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse, the series finale of ThunderCats Roar!, and the latest episode of Cosmos: Possible Worlds.
Bill & Ted Face The Music
Wow. I am not sure quite how to respond to that.
Looking over some of the review blurbs (both positive and negative), they all seem very sure of their opinions. I am not. I'm not saying this is a film I could learn to love by rewatching it a bunch of times (because I'll probably see it once more at most) but I don't feel comfortable dismissing it just because I didn't enjoy it.
I felt Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was too dark and mean-spirited, while the first movie was sunny and funny. This is something entirely different. This isn't dark exactly. More like sad and tragic. These two men wasted their lives and their potential. There is no greater way to say they failed to bring peace and harmony to the world through music than for the movie to debut in 2020. The entire political subtext of the franchise is very different than the 1980's and 1990's where many of us believed we could do anything. I'm not saying injustice didn't exist back then. In many ways those injustices were worse than now because they were unsung and hidden from the view of most of society. But it was a time I was willing to believe in the future. And a Republican was in the White House for both of the first two movies. It didn't feel like a tonic to hopelessness, as bad as Reagan was for many. It felt very much of the era in a good way.
I think in 2016, the Democrats, voters and politicians alike, were like Bill and Ted when the world needed them the most. They were busy farting around and missing the point. There is bad stuff happening all around us, and they were our only stop-gap, and we collectively didn't do enough. I don't feel positive for the future even with Biden winning the election. I can't explain it. But I feel like we failed the world, and we'll never write the song now. The movie is unexpectedly timely and bittersweet. I expect I'm going to give it a positive grade by the time I get to the end of the review, but I'm still not 100% sure. I have some things to work out in my head first.
I had two demands going in for me to like the movie and neither were met. The first demand not being met is annoying because it would have been easy and very funny. I am miffed they didn't reference Doctor Who once. After the outrage the original movie's success generated for Whobies, they should have addressed that head-on. Instead they ignored a potentially funny mea culpa.
The other thing I desperately wanted was ALSO a mea culpa. I wanted an acknowledgement that Bill and Ted's blatant homophobia in the first two movies, particularly the second, is ugly, unacceptable, and unbecoming of the two supposed peace and love-bringing saviors of humanity. Perhaps the movie is right to ignore that specific ugly aspect of the franchise, but the truth is the producers aren't coming out with Special Editions of the first two movies with the f words replaced with walkie-talkies. Those bits of those movies are going to stand for good, and I can never fully enjoy the first movie or the second at all because of them. Maybe this is not the franchise to court controversy over hot-button issues. But isn't the entire subtext to the movie about regret and arrested development? It feels like something that could have actually fit in thematically with everything else.
I have to say I'm not going to say I was disappointed the daughters wrote the song and Bill and Ted were back-up. But I knew going in they would be. Again, I'm not TOO mad, because it's the right ending, and I never penalize a predictable movie for ending the way it was supposed to. But if Bill and Ted weren't such dirt-stupid characters, the movie would never have been able to play it like that was a surprise. It was actually only a surprise to them.
The Orion production company logo rises from the dead! Take that now dated Family Guy jokes!
I'm now going to discuss my three favorite scenes in the movie, and two scenes that I really disliked.
The first scene I loved was Mr. Logan's full-throated apology to Ted in Hell. He should have spent less time criticizing him over the decades and more time supporting him. That is rewarding to hear 30 years later. What I especially love about the apology is that it doesn't extend to that ne'er-do-well Bill. Mr. Logan still thinks his son's bestie is a total loser. And he is, so I don't think less of Mr. Logan for that either.
For a comedy, I was shocked that I only laughed once. The first film had me in stitches several times. But the one time I broke out in a genuine smile here was when Mozart was playing a private concert, and heard Jimi Hendrix's guitar licks coming from outside. The look on Mozart's face was comedy gold, and I really, really, REALLY wish that this franchise had a TARDIS translator in the phone booth. But it never has, which is part of its goofy charm. He reminded me very much of Jonathan Groff as King George in Hamilton with that smirk.
The third major thing I love unreservedly was Bill and Ted's heartfelt apology to Death and their invitation for him to rejoin Wyld Stallions. I've only seen the second movie once or twice, and for some reason that STILL moved me near-tears. I don't know why. Maybe the performances, maybe the length of time between the pictures, but it like GOT to me in a way the franchise never did before.
Now to talk about the two things I especially hated, both involving couples therapy. The first thing Bill and Ted evolved from at the end of the movie, but the fact that it was an issue at all makes me think Bill and Ted suck big time, even before they turned into evil dirtbags. But the whole "WE love you," thing is insulting for the reason the therapist thinks it. In fact, knowing how they really met, and the therapist not understanding or believing they are real princesses, making it even MORE insulting than she already thinks it is. The declaration of love is so impersonal to them both because Bill and Ted do not view their wives as capable women with their own agency and personalities. They are conquests and trophies to be won and admired, and nothing more than that. The boys believed the heavy lifting in their marriages ended in 1990, and that their lives thereafter were a just reward for their heroism, rather something to be shared with people they loved and valued. I found it VERY interesting that the movie addressed the unhealthy pedestal the boys put these real women on, and how they were more objects of affection than soulmates, heavy emphasis on the object part. Who knew the franchise itself would call them on that?
The second thing that annoyed me was the second scene in the therapist's office where Bill and Ted go in there and tell their wives the last things they should ever tell them, whether they are being honest or not. And I realized the fate of the Universe would be a lot easier to save if it didn't depend on two people as uncommonly stupid and lacking in any sort of common sense as Bill and Ted. In the first two movies it was endearing. Here it was frustrating.
It is to the movie's eternal credit that both of those scenes I mentioned hating were DESIGNED for me to hate them. I think the movie could have done a bigger and better mea culpa about some of the problematic messages from the first two movies. But it's not like it didn't already knock Bill and Ted down fifty pegs. I am glad about these two things very much.
I don't actually necessarily think the franchise needed to come back, or that it needed to undo the second movie's super happy-seeming ending. But they went to some interesting places because they did. It's not a great movie. It's not even a funny movie. But I found it contained interesting ideas about growing old and failing the younger generation, and it felt very relevant to my current cynical view of humanity, and our ability to pull together during times of crisis. I did not think I needed a Bill and Ted movie. But the subtext to this admittedly so-so movie suggested we may need these movies now more than ever. ***1/2.
His Dark Materials “The Cave”
Wow, those courtroom scenes and the bombing of the Witches show the Magisterium are bad dudes. I mean they are in the books too, but the cinema approach with the ominous music really sells it.
I really like the stuff with Lyra and Mary Malone. Will’s journey is pretty interesting too.
Another great week. ****1/2.
Star Trek: Discovery “Unification III”
I'm trying to think of a proper superlative to describe that episode and I'm doing badly. Magnificent? That word suggests it was too grand for me to be able to relate to. Perfect? That suggests it wasn't messy. I responded to the episode not because it was great for a specific reason, but because it had many wonderful things going on in it at once.
I very much loved being put through the emotional wringer with Michael and Gabriella. I'm not sure if the Absolute Candor stuff was truly as effective as the producers of Star Trek: Picard hoped it was. But it resonated 800 years in the future with Burnham's mother using it to finally be a good Mom. What I love about how antagonistic she is in that quorum is that Michael is a bit outraged her mother seems to be undercutting her argument, and setting her against the council. The truth is Michael was NOT arguing in good faith, and her mother basically forced her to (which turned the tide with the Navar President). Well-wrung (and earned) drama which led to an amazing mother / daughter goodbye scene, as well as taking the Discovery one step closer to learning the truth.
I am very much in favor of the political perils on the former planet of Vulcan. The entire reason Deep Space Nine was my favorite Star Trek show is because it was literally the only one of the first five Trek series to actually explore the politics of the Alpha Quadrant. Picard did that a little in its first season, and Year 3 of Discovery is going even further. But suggesting politics and alliances can be tenuous and messy is a Star Trek message I very much like and approve of. I want to believe in the better future. But in order to believe in it, it needs to be plausible and not just a case of magical thinking. If the Federation or the Unification of Navar are held together, I want there to be solid, observable reasons for that. We need actual examples to work towards and learn from. Not big wishes that we can never realize because there is no credibility to them.
The stuff with learning the history of what Spock (and later Picard) started with Reunification was another reminder that the reason the first two seasons arguably sucked, (as least as far as being good Star Trek), is because they were forced to try and stay within a fixed canon and failing miserably at it. 900 years from now, and that have the sandbox entirely to themselves, and are coming up with and adding great things to the canon. I especially love the footage of Leonard Nimoy from The Next Generation. One of the things I am unhappy with regarding Anson Mount and Ethan Peck as Pike and Spock is that the show could easily be confused with a reboot as long as they are doing stuff like that. The Nimoy footage more clearly solidifies the integrity of the series' relationship to the canon at large. Now if we could only add some normal-looking Klingons to the mix.
The episode title says this is a third part to two episodes that aired in 1991. It may actually surpass Twin Peaks in the longest wait ever for a television resolution, although the upcoming Strange New Worlds debuting nearly 65 years after The Cage says it will break both records easily.
I like Stamets' initial reaction to Tilly saying she was offered a promotion, but realizing and trying to suss out how much of his boss that would make her. He instantly declares taking orders from her weird, which is something I love. Saru choosing her was interesting for one reason: She asks him to clarify if he believes she the most qualified for the position, or if he's picking her because she'd be the most compliant, which is necessary after the messes Burnham made. I like that Saru diplomatically chooses not to answer that specifically, and suggests he's offering the job because she is the best candidate for this point in time. I like that because it begs the question. I think if the question is raised but not answered, it's actually plausible that she would be offered a position like this despite being the ship's resident hot mess.
While we speaking of messes, I did not like the way Burnham was conducting herself around the Vulcans and Romulans. Invoking that quorum was a dirty move, and I was little astounded that she believed she could walk in there without knowing anything that had happened to that entire world in the past 800 years, and convince them that the Federation is good and their friend simply by being Spock's sister. The thing that angers me, and this is something not resolved by the end of the episode, is that I'm far from convinced the Federation, as it is currently being run, can be trusted at all. I think Saru and Burnham are taking a LOT of the luxuries and gee-whiz technology the Future Federation offers at face value, without questioning it or why it drove both Earth and Navar off to begin with. And she's using the fact that she's Spock's sister to gain favor as an emotional appeal and doesn't get how tacky that would be to Vulcans and how mad it would make them.
I think her lesson is only learned when she realizes what she's asking could potentially tear the Romulan and Vulcan factions on Navar apart, and that the research isn't actually worth that. I don't think the episode needed to give her the Participation Trophy of the President sneaking her the data at the end, but I recognized Burnham finally seeing that the Universe is no longer something that will simply trust whatever the Federation says as a big moment for her.
Speaking of her being Spock's famous sister, that feels wrong to the canon too. I kind of was under the impression that the season 2 finale sort of retconned her history out of the Spock family, and that's why no-one had heard of or mentioned her previously. Gabriella being present actually explains that discrepancy, but I am not happy Burnham or Saru weren't smart enough to catch it before she revealed herself. The show has the worst continuity of any Star Trek show ever. It can't even keep stuff IT set up straight.
But the episode was messy, and political, and real, and filled with heart and genuine emotion. I missed being moved by Star Trek, and I haven't been since the days of TNG and DS9. This season of this show and Picard are basically what I have been begging Star Trek to be while it was obsessed with prequels, reboots, and Lost in Space adventures. These two current Star Trek shows are everything I want my Star Trek to be. I responded to Picard immediately, and it took this show a couple of years to find its footing, but I have not been as satisfied with this franchise since 1999 and What You Leave Behind aired. I am very glad to be able to obsess over my nerdiest fandom again. It very much takes me back to the pleasures of my youth. *****.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 13: The Jedi"
Grogu? It's weirdly how that feels anticlimactic and entirely apt at the exact same time.
I liked it but I didn't love it. Rosario Dawson was a good Ahsoka. It's weird learning her hair was never actually hair.
Thrawn survived Rebels? He was that mediocre show's best character. I will say this: If and when he does appear in live-action they are gonna need to be VERY careful who they cast. I would suggest Wayne Pygram, or someone like him. Somebody completely frightening / spooky-looking who speaks in a soft British voice.
I am unhappy to ponder the idea that Ahsoka is selling that the Child is far more conscious and self-aware than a mere baby. It simply makes him eating those eggs a couple of episodes ago even more excusable. I think the reason that hit me so wrong is because I already believed the Child was smarter than he was letting on. He's 50 years old. From supposedly the smartest race. You telling me he doesn't know you shouldn't eat people? The entire thing makes me very unhappy.
I like Mando saying the Child was his good luck charm to explain him to the nosy soldier. Because even if he wears clothes, Baby Yoda IS animalistic enough to be confused for a pet. Easily.
A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They'll never see it coming. I like the guy saying Mando "threw in" with the Jedi. I like that people in this Universe say "threw in".
It was good, but not great. Because it's clear the Child actually belongs with Mando, and until he realizes that for himself, the series is going to be spinning its wheels until he does. ***1/2.
The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse "Hard To Swallow"
How is it Mickey doesn't put the pill in cheese FIRST? It's not like he hasn't owned a dog for the past 85 years.
Minnie's new voice is not an exact match to Russi Taylor the way the new guy from Mixed-Up Adventures is to Wayne Allwine's Mickey. But she has many of the same unique mannerisms Taylor gave Minnie down pat.
Pluto can audibly be heard to whisper "Flea pill" to Fifi. If that's so, explain to me the exact difference in personhood between him and Goofy again. Goofy even has fleas in this episode!
Fun. I'm only complaining because I'm a grump. ****.
The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse "School Of Fish"
Here's an opinion: Gubbles is the most perfect name for a fish in all of fictional history. Think of a fish with a better name. You can't. It's brilliant. And no-one can ever take that away from this show.
Pete had a peg-leg in grade school? Okay.
Mickey's obsession with Gubbles' safety and well-being in the earlier shorts was always portrayed as endearing. But we now see from Gubbles' end that it was also super embarrassing. Can't believe I missed that subtext before this.
I like how Mickey delivers the line "Say what?" Very Chris Griffin.
Always down for more Gubbles. And I could say his name all day long. Gubbles, Gubbles, Gubbles. ****1/2.
ThunderCats Roar! "Mandora Saves Christmas"
Underwhelming series finale.
ThunderCats Ho Ho Ho! They pretty much had to do it.
"U mind-controlled my heart" pretty much states once and for all that Tygra and Mumm-Ra are a couple.
This was not an appropriate series finale, but frankly, I don't think the show should have been canceled to begin with. It looks like we really AREN'T getting what we want for Christmas. Thanks a lot, Mandora. Also Obama, (but that one goes without saying.) ***.
Cosmos: Possible Worlds “The Sacrifice Of Cassini”
That felt very long. Often the show feels very fast paced because it is so interesting, but that was deadly dull. Bonus demerits for me finding a couple of the ideas sketchy.
Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't pronounce Uranus the funny way.
It might have oceans of liquid diamonds? Yeah, that world is nuts.
I thought the scenes of Tyson talking to Galileo and the other scientists about what they discovered beyond painful and awkward. I get that this is the one Seth MacFarlane show that doesn't do self-awareness or irony. But those things exist, right? Do none of the producers realize how corny that is?
I always find the animation on the show interesting. Probably because it is so far outside most Fuzzy Door animation.
The Soviet Union sucked. I am no fan of current Russia, but that place must have been Hell to live in in the early 20th Century.
I think the thing that made me most unhappy about the episode and why it gets a failing grade is because Cassini is treated like a living being making a sacrifice and fighting against it. Those are human feelings placed upon an inanimate object to attach extra significance to their project concluding. I think the project was significant enough without having to add magical thinking to it. Maybe this is normal for scientists and a way to cope with and relate to their subjects. But seeing as I'm not in that club, it seems like a lot of b.s. to me. And Tyson does that far less than most TV personalities. But stuff like that is why I wish he never did it. And he sometimes does. That is example 1.
I was not a fan of this week. *1/2.
Bill & Ted Face The Music
Wow. I am not sure quite how to respond to that.
Looking over some of the review blurbs (both positive and negative), they all seem very sure of their opinions. I am not. I'm not saying this is a film I could learn to love by rewatching it a bunch of times (because I'll probably see it once more at most) but I don't feel comfortable dismissing it just because I didn't enjoy it.
I felt Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was too dark and mean-spirited, while the first movie was sunny and funny. This is something entirely different. This isn't dark exactly. More like sad and tragic. These two men wasted their lives and their potential. There is no greater way to say they failed to bring peace and harmony to the world through music than for the movie to debut in 2020. The entire political subtext of the franchise is very different than the 1980's and 1990's where many of us believed we could do anything. I'm not saying injustice didn't exist back then. In many ways those injustices were worse than now because they were unsung and hidden from the view of most of society. But it was a time I was willing to believe in the future. And a Republican was in the White House for both of the first two movies. It didn't feel like a tonic to hopelessness, as bad as Reagan was for many. It felt very much of the era in a good way.
I think in 2016, the Democrats, voters and politicians alike, were like Bill and Ted when the world needed them the most. They were busy farting around and missing the point. There is bad stuff happening all around us, and they were our only stop-gap, and we collectively didn't do enough. I don't feel positive for the future even with Biden winning the election. I can't explain it. But I feel like we failed the world, and we'll never write the song now. The movie is unexpectedly timely and bittersweet. I expect I'm going to give it a positive grade by the time I get to the end of the review, but I'm still not 100% sure. I have some things to work out in my head first.
I had two demands going in for me to like the movie and neither were met. The first demand not being met is annoying because it would have been easy and very funny. I am miffed they didn't reference Doctor Who once. After the outrage the original movie's success generated for Whobies, they should have addressed that head-on. Instead they ignored a potentially funny mea culpa.
The other thing I desperately wanted was ALSO a mea culpa. I wanted an acknowledgement that Bill and Ted's blatant homophobia in the first two movies, particularly the second, is ugly, unacceptable, and unbecoming of the two supposed peace and love-bringing saviors of humanity. Perhaps the movie is right to ignore that specific ugly aspect of the franchise, but the truth is the producers aren't coming out with Special Editions of the first two movies with the f words replaced with walkie-talkies. Those bits of those movies are going to stand for good, and I can never fully enjoy the first movie or the second at all because of them. Maybe this is not the franchise to court controversy over hot-button issues. But isn't the entire subtext to the movie about regret and arrested development? It feels like something that could have actually fit in thematically with everything else.
I have to say I'm not going to say I was disappointed the daughters wrote the song and Bill and Ted were back-up. But I knew going in they would be. Again, I'm not TOO mad, because it's the right ending, and I never penalize a predictable movie for ending the way it was supposed to. But if Bill and Ted weren't such dirt-stupid characters, the movie would never have been able to play it like that was a surprise. It was actually only a surprise to them.
The Orion production company logo rises from the dead! Take that now dated Family Guy jokes!
I'm now going to discuss my three favorite scenes in the movie, and two scenes that I really disliked.
The first scene I loved was Mr. Logan's full-throated apology to Ted in Hell. He should have spent less time criticizing him over the decades and more time supporting him. That is rewarding to hear 30 years later. What I especially love about the apology is that it doesn't extend to that ne'er-do-well Bill. Mr. Logan still thinks his son's bestie is a total loser. And he is, so I don't think less of Mr. Logan for that either.
For a comedy, I was shocked that I only laughed once. The first film had me in stitches several times. But the one time I broke out in a genuine smile here was when Mozart was playing a private concert, and heard Jimi Hendrix's guitar licks coming from outside. The look on Mozart's face was comedy gold, and I really, really, REALLY wish that this franchise had a TARDIS translator in the phone booth. But it never has, which is part of its goofy charm. He reminded me very much of Jonathan Groff as King George in Hamilton with that smirk.
The third major thing I love unreservedly was Bill and Ted's heartfelt apology to Death and their invitation for him to rejoin Wyld Stallions. I've only seen the second movie once or twice, and for some reason that STILL moved me near-tears. I don't know why. Maybe the performances, maybe the length of time between the pictures, but it like GOT to me in a way the franchise never did before.
Now to talk about the two things I especially hated, both involving couples therapy. The first thing Bill and Ted evolved from at the end of the movie, but the fact that it was an issue at all makes me think Bill and Ted suck big time, even before they turned into evil dirtbags. But the whole "WE love you," thing is insulting for the reason the therapist thinks it. In fact, knowing how they really met, and the therapist not understanding or believing they are real princesses, making it even MORE insulting than she already thinks it is. The declaration of love is so impersonal to them both because Bill and Ted do not view their wives as capable women with their own agency and personalities. They are conquests and trophies to be won and admired, and nothing more than that. The boys believed the heavy lifting in their marriages ended in 1990, and that their lives thereafter were a just reward for their heroism, rather something to be shared with people they loved and valued. I found it VERY interesting that the movie addressed the unhealthy pedestal the boys put these real women on, and how they were more objects of affection than soulmates, heavy emphasis on the object part. Who knew the franchise itself would call them on that?
The second thing that annoyed me was the second scene in the therapist's office where Bill and Ted go in there and tell their wives the last things they should ever tell them, whether they are being honest or not. And I realized the fate of the Universe would be a lot easier to save if it didn't depend on two people as uncommonly stupid and lacking in any sort of common sense as Bill and Ted. In the first two movies it was endearing. Here it was frustrating.
It is to the movie's eternal credit that both of those scenes I mentioned hating were DESIGNED for me to hate them. I think the movie could have done a bigger and better mea culpa about some of the problematic messages from the first two movies. But it's not like it didn't already knock Bill and Ted down fifty pegs. I am glad about these two things very much.
I don't actually necessarily think the franchise needed to come back, or that it needed to undo the second movie's super happy-seeming ending. But they went to some interesting places because they did. It's not a great movie. It's not even a funny movie. But I found it contained interesting ideas about growing old and failing the younger generation, and it felt very relevant to my current cynical view of humanity, and our ability to pull together during times of crisis. I did not think I needed a Bill and Ted movie. But the subtext to this admittedly so-so movie suggested we may need these movies now more than ever. ***1/2.
His Dark Materials “The Cave”
Wow, those courtroom scenes and the bombing of the Witches show the Magisterium are bad dudes. I mean they are in the books too, but the cinema approach with the ominous music really sells it.
I really like the stuff with Lyra and Mary Malone. Will’s journey is pretty interesting too.
Another great week. ****1/2.
Star Trek: Discovery “Unification III”
I'm trying to think of a proper superlative to describe that episode and I'm doing badly. Magnificent? That word suggests it was too grand for me to be able to relate to. Perfect? That suggests it wasn't messy. I responded to the episode not because it was great for a specific reason, but because it had many wonderful things going on in it at once.
I very much loved being put through the emotional wringer with Michael and Gabriella. I'm not sure if the Absolute Candor stuff was truly as effective as the producers of Star Trek: Picard hoped it was. But it resonated 800 years in the future with Burnham's mother using it to finally be a good Mom. What I love about how antagonistic she is in that quorum is that Michael is a bit outraged her mother seems to be undercutting her argument, and setting her against the council. The truth is Michael was NOT arguing in good faith, and her mother basically forced her to (which turned the tide with the Navar President). Well-wrung (and earned) drama which led to an amazing mother / daughter goodbye scene, as well as taking the Discovery one step closer to learning the truth.
I am very much in favor of the political perils on the former planet of Vulcan. The entire reason Deep Space Nine was my favorite Star Trek show is because it was literally the only one of the first five Trek series to actually explore the politics of the Alpha Quadrant. Picard did that a little in its first season, and Year 3 of Discovery is going even further. But suggesting politics and alliances can be tenuous and messy is a Star Trek message I very much like and approve of. I want to believe in the better future. But in order to believe in it, it needs to be plausible and not just a case of magical thinking. If the Federation or the Unification of Navar are held together, I want there to be solid, observable reasons for that. We need actual examples to work towards and learn from. Not big wishes that we can never realize because there is no credibility to them.
The stuff with learning the history of what Spock (and later Picard) started with Reunification was another reminder that the reason the first two seasons arguably sucked, (as least as far as being good Star Trek), is because they were forced to try and stay within a fixed canon and failing miserably at it. 900 years from now, and that have the sandbox entirely to themselves, and are coming up with and adding great things to the canon. I especially love the footage of Leonard Nimoy from The Next Generation. One of the things I am unhappy with regarding Anson Mount and Ethan Peck as Pike and Spock is that the show could easily be confused with a reboot as long as they are doing stuff like that. The Nimoy footage more clearly solidifies the integrity of the series' relationship to the canon at large. Now if we could only add some normal-looking Klingons to the mix.
The episode title says this is a third part to two episodes that aired in 1991. It may actually surpass Twin Peaks in the longest wait ever for a television resolution, although the upcoming Strange New Worlds debuting nearly 65 years after The Cage says it will break both records easily.
I like Stamets' initial reaction to Tilly saying she was offered a promotion, but realizing and trying to suss out how much of his boss that would make her. He instantly declares taking orders from her weird, which is something I love. Saru choosing her was interesting for one reason: She asks him to clarify if he believes she the most qualified for the position, or if he's picking her because she'd be the most compliant, which is necessary after the messes Burnham made. I like that Saru diplomatically chooses not to answer that specifically, and suggests he's offering the job because she is the best candidate for this point in time. I like that because it begs the question. I think if the question is raised but not answered, it's actually plausible that she would be offered a position like this despite being the ship's resident hot mess.
While we speaking of messes, I did not like the way Burnham was conducting herself around the Vulcans and Romulans. Invoking that quorum was a dirty move, and I was little astounded that she believed she could walk in there without knowing anything that had happened to that entire world in the past 800 years, and convince them that the Federation is good and their friend simply by being Spock's sister. The thing that angers me, and this is something not resolved by the end of the episode, is that I'm far from convinced the Federation, as it is currently being run, can be trusted at all. I think Saru and Burnham are taking a LOT of the luxuries and gee-whiz technology the Future Federation offers at face value, without questioning it or why it drove both Earth and Navar off to begin with. And she's using the fact that she's Spock's sister to gain favor as an emotional appeal and doesn't get how tacky that would be to Vulcans and how mad it would make them.
I think her lesson is only learned when she realizes what she's asking could potentially tear the Romulan and Vulcan factions on Navar apart, and that the research isn't actually worth that. I don't think the episode needed to give her the Participation Trophy of the President sneaking her the data at the end, but I recognized Burnham finally seeing that the Universe is no longer something that will simply trust whatever the Federation says as a big moment for her.
Speaking of her being Spock's famous sister, that feels wrong to the canon too. I kind of was under the impression that the season 2 finale sort of retconned her history out of the Spock family, and that's why no-one had heard of or mentioned her previously. Gabriella being present actually explains that discrepancy, but I am not happy Burnham or Saru weren't smart enough to catch it before she revealed herself. The show has the worst continuity of any Star Trek show ever. It can't even keep stuff IT set up straight.
But the episode was messy, and political, and real, and filled with heart and genuine emotion. I missed being moved by Star Trek, and I haven't been since the days of TNG and DS9. This season of this show and Picard are basically what I have been begging Star Trek to be while it was obsessed with prequels, reboots, and Lost in Space adventures. These two current Star Trek shows are everything I want my Star Trek to be. I responded to Picard immediately, and it took this show a couple of years to find its footing, but I have not been as satisfied with this franchise since 1999 and What You Leave Behind aired. I am very glad to be able to obsess over my nerdiest fandom again. It very much takes me back to the pleasures of my youth. *****.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 13: The Jedi"
Grogu? It's weirdly how that feels anticlimactic and entirely apt at the exact same time.
I liked it but I didn't love it. Rosario Dawson was a good Ahsoka. It's weird learning her hair was never actually hair.
Thrawn survived Rebels? He was that mediocre show's best character. I will say this: If and when he does appear in live-action they are gonna need to be VERY careful who they cast. I would suggest Wayne Pygram, or someone like him. Somebody completely frightening / spooky-looking who speaks in a soft British voice.
I am unhappy to ponder the idea that Ahsoka is selling that the Child is far more conscious and self-aware than a mere baby. It simply makes him eating those eggs a couple of episodes ago even more excusable. I think the reason that hit me so wrong is because I already believed the Child was smarter than he was letting on. He's 50 years old. From supposedly the smartest race. You telling me he doesn't know you shouldn't eat people? The entire thing makes me very unhappy.
I like Mando saying the Child was his good luck charm to explain him to the nosy soldier. Because even if he wears clothes, Baby Yoda IS animalistic enough to be confused for a pet. Easily.
A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They'll never see it coming. I like the guy saying Mando "threw in" with the Jedi. I like that people in this Universe say "threw in".
It was good, but not great. Because it's clear the Child actually belongs with Mando, and until he realizes that for himself, the series is going to be spinning its wheels until he does. ***1/2.
The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse "Hard To Swallow"
How is it Mickey doesn't put the pill in cheese FIRST? It's not like he hasn't owned a dog for the past 85 years.
Minnie's new voice is not an exact match to Russi Taylor the way the new guy from Mixed-Up Adventures is to Wayne Allwine's Mickey. But she has many of the same unique mannerisms Taylor gave Minnie down pat.
Pluto can audibly be heard to whisper "Flea pill" to Fifi. If that's so, explain to me the exact difference in personhood between him and Goofy again. Goofy even has fleas in this episode!
Fun. I'm only complaining because I'm a grump. ****.
The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse "School Of Fish"
Here's an opinion: Gubbles is the most perfect name for a fish in all of fictional history. Think of a fish with a better name. You can't. It's brilliant. And no-one can ever take that away from this show.
Pete had a peg-leg in grade school? Okay.
Mickey's obsession with Gubbles' safety and well-being in the earlier shorts was always portrayed as endearing. But we now see from Gubbles' end that it was also super embarrassing. Can't believe I missed that subtext before this.
I like how Mickey delivers the line "Say what?" Very Chris Griffin.
Always down for more Gubbles. And I could say his name all day long. Gubbles, Gubbles, Gubbles. ****1/2.
ThunderCats Roar! "Mandora Saves Christmas"
Underwhelming series finale.
ThunderCats Ho Ho Ho! They pretty much had to do it.
"U mind-controlled my heart" pretty much states once and for all that Tygra and Mumm-Ra are a couple.
This was not an appropriate series finale, but frankly, I don't think the show should have been canceled to begin with. It looks like we really AREN'T getting what we want for Christmas. Thanks a lot, Mandora. Also Obama, (but that one goes without saying.) ***.
Cosmos: Possible Worlds “The Sacrifice Of Cassini”
That felt very long. Often the show feels very fast paced because it is so interesting, but that was deadly dull. Bonus demerits for me finding a couple of the ideas sketchy.
Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't pronounce Uranus the funny way.
It might have oceans of liquid diamonds? Yeah, that world is nuts.
I thought the scenes of Tyson talking to Galileo and the other scientists about what they discovered beyond painful and awkward. I get that this is the one Seth MacFarlane show that doesn't do self-awareness or irony. But those things exist, right? Do none of the producers realize how corny that is?
I always find the animation on the show interesting. Probably because it is so far outside most Fuzzy Door animation.
The Soviet Union sucked. I am no fan of current Russia, but that place must have been Hell to live in in the early 20th Century.
I think the thing that made me most unhappy about the episode and why it gets a failing grade is because Cassini is treated like a living being making a sacrifice and fighting against it. Those are human feelings placed upon an inanimate object to attach extra significance to their project concluding. I think the project was significant enough without having to add magical thinking to it. Maybe this is normal for scientists and a way to cope with and relate to their subjects. But seeing as I'm not in that club, it seems like a lot of b.s. to me. And Tyson does that far less than most TV personalities. But stuff like that is why I wish he never did it. And he sometimes does. That is example 1.
I was not a fan of this week. *1/2.
