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Gadgetology Serious Stuff Television & Movies Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Still Trekkin’, still talkin’

1 min read

This past weekend was the third annual (annual!) TrekTalks telethon, benefitting the Hollywood Food Coalition, and once again I was pushing the buttons that made the whole thing happen. And man, did a whole thing happen – just look at the numbers (as of a couple of days later when I’m writing this):

TrekTalks total

I could be mistaken, but I think that’s the best total yet for any of these events. That’s a lot of meals. That’s a good reason to sweat the details and add another day of live TV to the CV. … Read more

Categories
Gadgetology Serious Stuff Television & Movies Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Trekkin’ and Talkin’ Times Two

2 min read

I’m still reeling a bit a day later, but this time yesterday as I write this, we were a little over halfway through the second annual TREKTalks event benefitting the Hollywood Food Coalition. HoFoCo is lucky to count among its membership John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox of Enterprise fame) and David Livingston (who has more Star Trek directorial credits than anyone else who’s directed Star Trek, and was also a producer on everything from The Next Generation forward). Add to the mix Bill Smith and Dan Davidson of the Trek Geeks Podcast, John Champion at Roddenberry Podcasts, and between all of these people you have this vast collective Rolodex of Star Trek actors and creatives, past and present. For year two, we added Yvette Blackmon of the Syfy Sistas both behind the scenes and as a panelist, and Bonnie Gordon (the voice of Star Trek: Prodigy’s ship’s computer) as co-host, and took what we learned from year one, and raised over $106,000 for a good cause.

I’m a really tiny part of this because, you know, if all these other folks don’t have the contacts and make the content that they do, I don’t have anyone to put on the screen for eight hours. My job is to make sure I don’t screw up any of their hard work, and to try to make it look like something. … Read more

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Funny Stuff Television & Movies

The unchanging playbook of the fandom menace

So I was looking for something and stumbled upon a directory of scans of a certain influential (and rather infamous) Doctor Who fanzine; I don’t remember when or where I got these. But… I wanted to show y’all something.

I chuckle (and sigh heavily) at “news sources” like Nerdrotic, Doomcock, Wegotthiscovered, etc. etc., all claiming to have inside scoops that a given show’s showrunner and/or star is being shown to the door, usually with some added insinuation that the reason no one else is reporting this is because it’s being done under a veil of secrecy, and (insert clickbait YouTuber of your choice) somehow has the inside scoop. And then they have to backpedal and cough up some B.S. story about how Alex Kurtzman or Kathleen Kennedy is being kept on board to “reassure shareholders” or some other such unlikely codswallop. The same claims are repeatedly made of Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker too, which is why this discovery of ’80s ‘zine scans was all the more delicious.

Behold as “DWB” – a.k.a. Doctor Who Bulletin – self-pwns in the space of two years, waging a campaign against Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner, and then reporting his ouster, and then having to admit that he’s not going anywhere. It’s kind of delicious. You can click on it to zoom in.

DWB montage

Now the same cycle repeats itself, except it happens at the speed of the internet.

Remember when fandom was about liking something instead of hating it? Sigh.… Read more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Courting the vote of the midichlorian demographic

2 min read

All art is inherently political. If that statement makes you start to break out in a cold sweat, you should probably stop reading now.

I binge-watched the second season of The Mandalorian yesterday, because I was an episode behind even before the finale dropped, and because…well…I’ve got the time. I’m about half a week into the recommended two-week self-quarantine period because someone at my day job – to which I’m expected to report in person since the management is of the opinion that “if you’re not in the office, you’re not working” despite the fact that graphic design is an example of a job that could be done 100% remotely – started “feeling like crap” somewhere around Tuesday the 8th, kept coming to work (including an all-hands company Christmas dinner on the 11th, which was attended not only by employees but some of their family members as well, including one infant), and then notified us that they had tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday the 15th. In short: everyone’s been exposed. Including family members. Including that infant. Merry Christmas!

So I’ve got all kinds of time to binge-watch stuff now. Thanks? Anyway, rewatching the whole second season of The Mandalorian in one concentrated burst, and bearing in mind the sequel trilogy, I have thoughts. … Read more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Not exactly the Federation news service, are you?

2 min read

“Am I getting the sense that you guys didn’t enjoy this episode?” – Amal
“Enjoyment…is a multi-level thing.” – Scott
“Like a car park!” – Liz

– from Down & Safe Podcast #24*

 
This is both related to the current political reality of tending toward unreality, and also unrelated. Let’s start with the latter.
 
The news today that The Orville is picking up production after Thanksgiving not only made me happy because I freakin’ love The Orville, but because it repudiates a lot of rumor-mongering that spring up in the spring and early summer months that the third season was never going to be finished, the show would never return, it had already been cancelled by [Disney/Hulu/20th Century Fox], blah blah blah. It’s kind of sad that it’ll be nearly a year before we see the fruits of this labor, but I’m just happy to have the rumors refuted definitively.
 
Now…where most of these rumors came from is this whole corner of YouTube that has sprung up since 2016 and early 2017, and has just grown louder and louder with each passing year – very Fox-News-styled “here’s the real news of what’s going on with [sci-fi or superhero property that has a sizeable following] with no spin!” And invariably, the “news” is just dead wrong. It’s baseless rumor or it’s just stuff someone wishes would happen. … Read more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Memo to Russell T. Davies: when did you actually acquire the ability to time travel?

1 min read

I rewatched Torchwood: Children of Earth recently…kinda wished I hadn’t.  Not that it’s not good, but I liked these conversations better as a science fiction show and not when it’s Uncle Bubba on social media demanding that kids be sent back into crowded schools in the middle of a pandemic. … Read more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Remembering Aron Eisenberg

1 min read

I’m still trying to process the news that Aron Eisenberg passed last night. The evolution of his Ferengi character, Nog, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had a lot of personal meaning for me, as I think was the case for anyone who’s ever had to stand toe-to-toe with someone and say “give me a chance to prove I’m more than what you think I am.” … Read more