Watched both episodes of Obi-Wan last night. Well, technically in the wee hours of the AM this morning. It's better than The Book of Boba Fett. It doesn't feel as good as The Mandalorian.

Spoilers below:

Any time you bring a kid in as one of the protagonists, the show is already in trouble. I am also not super thrilled with Inquisitor Reva. She feels like a carbon copy of Trilla Suduri from Jedi: Fallen Order. I'll give it a couple of more episodes to click with me before making a final judgement.

On the other hand, part 1 of Season 4 of Stranger Things just dropped.

I wonder if Andy found God laughing.

Bill Borre wrote on May 27, 2022, 12:14:
I wonder if Andy found God laughing.

Nope, there's nothing to find when you're dead.
Good song though. https://youtu.be/o3EAzf5fDpY

Imagine the smell of the hot dog filler in the 90+ degree weather on asphalt.

Dopamine resetting is a good thing, if you ever want to see what your motivations are like on a base level.

Rubikon. Theatrical and streaming release on the same day. I will not pre-order

Here's my viewing last night in order and personal rating.

Halo season 1 finale. Good. 8/10. The episode left the series in a good way. There is still no sign of the Kwan Ha / Soren-066 storyline, which is great because it had nothing to do with Master Chief or Halo. The series is at its best when it focuses on the main story and the auxiliary lore characters. Kwan was an aimless and meaningless "side quest," and I'm glad the producers decided to end it.

Strange New Worlds, season 1, episode 4. 10/10. Wow! That's the word that best describes this episode. It was amazingly well-done and focused on La'an. The story has many levels, and I'll probably need to watch it once more to catch the subtle details. In a surprising turn of events, the episode tries to stay true to science in an epic way while also bringing back a legacy baddie in a new way that makes them equally terrifying and cool! I could easily see "them" being the Borg of SNW.

Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1, episodes 1 and 2. Very good. 9/10. As this is the beginning of a six-hour story, it isn't easy to gauge trajectory, but the level of continuity is decisive here. It did a good job weaving the impact of the events from The Revenge of the Sith on the characters. I wouldn't say I like that it takes place some ten years after The Revenge of the Sith, which doesn't gel well with Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton. Those two have aged way more than ten years. They look twenty+ years older. It requires a suspension of disbelief.

The winner of the evening was Strange New Worlds! I highly recommend the show. 🖖

SNW is now tied with DS9 right behind TNG as my favorite Star Trek series.

1. TNG
2. DS9 and SNW
3. TOS
4. Voyager
5. Enterprise
6. Picard
7. Discovery

RedEye9 wrote on May 27, 2022, 12:22:

Bill Borre wrote on May 27, 2022, 12:14:
I wonder if Andy found God laughing.

Nope, there's nothing to find when you're dead.

The Bible agrees.

(Psalm 146:4) "His spirit goes out. He returns to the ground; on that very day, his thoughts perish."

(Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all . . . Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in the Grave where you are going."

People can thank the Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato for conceiving the concept of an "immortal soul" and then first-century Christians* for creeping these apostate philosophies into the congregation. This action (among many others) eventually led to Christendom's doctrines of life after death that does not agree with what the Bible states as truth.

*Not all first-century Christians. A few ne'er-do-wells didn't genuinely follow the Christian teachings, which were cast out to protect against divisive thinking. After the last apostle died near the turn of the century, there was no bulwark against the wave of apostate thinking coming into the congregations. By the end of the second century, Christianity had become truly apostate while also being persecuted by the pagan nations they inhabited, most especially by the Roman Empire. Then in the 4th century, Constantine became the Emporer and made Christianity his empire's state religion. Many of Christendom's doctrines originate from him, including the worst: the trinity doctrine, which is nothing more than a redressed version of pagan triune deity worship.

This comment was edited on May 27, 2022, 14:39.

Up to now, I loved Rogue One and the 2 Mandalorian seasons. The sequel trilogy was horrible and should be declared non-canon. Solo was an alright movie but the main character was just not Solo. Book of Boba Fett was meh and felt in some episodes too much like the sequel trilogy with how the characters were handled. I hope OB1 is good and got even more hope that Andor will be good because that character was great in Rogue One. Not sure about the Ahsoka series but at least they got her cast well. And there is not much info on the web about the Acolyte and Skeleton Crew series except for some casting news.
I think that Disney understood that they shat the bed huge time with the sequels and are therefore staying far, far away from that era. I hope that finally my wish for the sequel trilogy becomes true and the next movies take place a 100 or more years after Return of the Jedi with Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, Chewie, and even the robots having lived their life in peace and a new era starts with new characters and a new story.

Alan White who was the drummer of Yes for roughly half a century has also died. He was really amazing when I saw Yes live in concert.

Book of Boba Fett was a mixed bag. I liked the Sand People part of it (and the 2 episodes of Mando), but the rest of it was just.... not horrible... but felt like a HUGE wasted potential. I think I really LOVED Mando because while it shares a bit here and there with the movies/cartoon's/etc, it was it's own thing in story and..... mood (not sure if that describes it but that's the best I can come up with at the moment). I want Star Wars to do more like Deep Space 9 was to TNG, it's own thing with it's own vibe instead of going back to the 9 movies.

Will binge Moon Knight and Obi tonight, so here is hoping....

RIP Fletch. I've seen Depeche Mode 4 times over the years and they were always amazing live. One of my fave bands of the 80s.

We Feed People will make you feel like you’ve done nothing with your life

Wow, could that headline be any more fucking insulting? Not to mention doing shit like that is easy when you're rich and famous like Jose Andreas. If it were a more egalitarian world where the rich - like Jose Andreas - paid their fucking fair share of taxes we wouldn't need those sorts of organizations to begin with.

Kenobi will be good simply by virtue of EM being attached to it. Andor on the other hand looks like shite.

Catatonia, holy shit is that ever terrifying. I wonder if it's related to sleep paralysis. The brain engaging in it when you're conscious?

Flow State sounds fucking interesting man. I'll have to look into that more.

El Pit wrote on May 27, 2022, 15:04:
Alan White who was the drummer of Yes for roughly half a century has also died. He was really amazing when I saw Yes live in concert.

Wasn't a huge Yes fan but I did see them live once myself and they were amazing live. Super talented band. Steve Howe, one of rock's guitar gods. Jon Anderson, whom I loved in Jon & Vangelis in particular.

The Half Elf wrote on May 27, 2022, 15:19:
Book of Boba Fett was a mixed bag. I liked the Sand People part of it (and the 2 episodes of Mando), but the rest of it was just.... not horrible... but felt like a HUGE wasted potential. I think I really LOVED Mando because while it shares a bit here and there with the movies/cartoon's/etc, it was it's own thing in story and..... mood (not sure if that describes it but that's the best I can come up with at the moment). I want Star Wars to do more like Deep Space 9 was to TNG, it's own thing with it's own vibe instead of going back to the 9 movies.

Will binge Moon Knight and Obi tonight, so here is hoping....

I agree with your BoBF assessment. The post-Sarlacc time with the Sand Peeps was really good. The rest of it was pretty hollow. Mando on the other hand I find to be rather weak sauce. It's very stylish but that's all it is, style over substance. The writing for that show is like bad fanfic. I have zero idea why people are giving Favreau such props for it. MK was a mixed bag too, though Oscar Issac's performance was fucking amazing as usual. ST SNW sucks. Apart from the woke bullshit I generally do not like the character of Pike. Every other Starfleet Captain is professional and serious about the job. He comes off like some frat bro that just wants to be your drinking buddy. It's ridiculous.

It's too bad WandaVision won't be coming back. Looking forward to Loki S2 though. Best thing I've seen overall in the past year or so for a series is Slow Horses with Gary Oldman - who is just fucking amazing in his role. Can not wait for S2!

Kxmode wrote on May 27, 2022, 13:51:
...
Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1, episodes 1 and 2. Very good. 9/10. As this is the beginning of a six-hour story, it isn't easy to gauge trajectory, but the level of continuity is decisive here. It did a good job weaving the impact of the events from The Revenge of the Sith on the characters. I wouldn't say I like that it takes place some ten years after The Revenge of the Sith, which doesn't gel well with Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton. Those two have aged way more than ten years. They look twenty+ years older. It requires a suspension of disbelief.

...

You've gotta figure Obi-Wan and Owen have been working outside, in the desert, under twin suns for the last ten years. It can't be that good for your skin. Plus McGregor's Obi-wan morphs into Alec Guiness' version in another ten years. I found their aging to be easy to accept.

Speaking of aging... (Just in case it's a spoiler) [The actress playing Leia looks and sounds very 'youthful', as well as, a bit short to be playing a ten year old. That aside, she's terrific. I could see a lot of Carrie Fisher's Leia. ]

I really liked these first two episodes and can't wait for the next four.

Jedi: Survivor (sequel to Fallen Order) releasing next year and it's not cross-gen, woo!

afka Rossini wrote on May 27, 2022, 17:41:
You've gotta figure Obi-Wan and Owen have been working outside, in the desert, under twin suns for the last ten years. It can't be that good for your skin. Plus McGregor's Obi-wan morphs into Alec Guiness' version in another ten years. I found their aging to be easy to accept.

Even mental stress ages you quickly... Any of the few surviving Jedi at that point have plenty to be stressed about, and not all of them are burdened so much as Obi-Wan. And as you say, even if the actor hadn't aged so much in real life, they probably would have needed to digitally age him up to make him start to look more like Old Ben.

El Pit wrote on May 27, 2022, 14:06:
Up to now, I loved Rogue One and the 2 Mandalorian seasons. The sequel trilogy was horrible and should be declared non-canon. Solo was an alright movie but the main character was just not Solo. Book of Boba Fett was meh and felt in some episodes too much like the sequel trilogy with how the characters were handled. I hope OB1 is good and got even more hope that Andor will be good because that character was great in Rogue One. Not sure about the Ahsoka series but at least they got her cast well. And there is not much info on the web about the Acolyte and Skeleton Crew series except for some casting news.
I think that Disney understood that they shat the bed huge time with the sequels and are therefore staying far, far away from that era. I hope that finally my wish for the sequel trilogy becomes true and the next movies take place a 100 or more years after Return of the Jedi with Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, Chewie, and even the robots having lived their life in peace and a new era starts with new characters and a new story.

This largely sums up my feelings as well.

Kxmode wrote on May 27, 2022, 13:51:
The winner of the evening was Strange New Worlds! I highly recommend the show. 🖖

Yep, I love the new show. I like Discovery, too, though I'll admit I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan around; I'm actually going through S2 of that right now, and I can see how Pike got his own show afterward.

I told my wife today that I think I actually like the new Star Trek shows better than the new Star Wars shows they've come out with, which in my house is heretical on the level of saying you prefer warm beer, that the Flyers have some really nice players, or that pizza is better without cheese. It's just not okay and it isn't done

Obi-Wan has some potential, I just don't feel particularly invested in it since I really can't stand the prequel films. Saw Ep1 today and it was ok, hopefully get time to see Ep2 tomorrow.

Anyone flying out to see Top Gun this weekend? Cruise is always watchable, Kosinski (Tron Legacy, Oblivion) is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors, and 97% on RT. Sounds like a pretty excellent combination. Any bets on what the Cinemascore will be?

Speaking of Cinemascore, Alex Garland's (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs) Men got a D+.

I am always hesitant to talk about my opinions about the recent Star Wars or Star Trek projects because it is hard to avoid sounding like a grumpy old bastard who is pissed off because they "ruined my childhood" simply because they headed in different directions when I wanted the same shit over and over again ad nauseum. But at the risk of sounding like someone who unironically yells at you to get off his lawn, I have absolutely despised everything Star Trek and Star Wars released in the last 20 years. The near soul-crushing disappointment that started with the horrendous prequel trilogy was finished with how bad the execrable final Disney trilogy was. The new Picard vision of the Federation and the incredible stupidity of the script was almost offensive in how bad I thought it was. And that latest abomination of Discovery was even worse to me if that's possible. At this point any show that is connected in any way to the Star Trek or Star Wars universes would have to be universally regarded as so brilliant that they basically qualified as life-changing to get me to watch them.

Prez wrote on May 27, 2022, 22:14:
I am always hesitant to talk about my opinions about the recent Star Wars or Star Trek projects because it is hard to avoid sounding like a grumpy old bastard who is pissed off because they "ruined my childhood" simply because they headed in different directions when I wanted the same shit over and over again ad nauseum. But at the risk of sounding like someone who unironically yells at you to get off his lawn, I have absolutely despised everything Star Trek and Star Wars released in the last 20 years. The near soul-crushing disappointment that started with the horrendous prequel trilogy was finished with how bad the execrable final Disney trilogy was. The new Picard vision of the Federation and the incredible stupidity of the script was almost offensive in how bad I thought it was. And that latest abomination of Discovery was even worse to me if that's possible. At this point any show that is connected in any way to the Star Trek or Star Wars universes would have to be universally regarded as so brilliant that they basically qualified as life-changing to get me to watch them.

Nah, Prez. I'm right there with you. The best of the recent SW movies, as El Pit elucidated, was Rogue One: fun and self contained, with great action, even if not perfect. The new trilogy was derivative trash, a waste of money, and a lost opportunity to tell an interesting story. I did enjoy both seasons of Mando: telling small stories well with fun characters and somewhat over-arching galactic consequences, but Boba Fett was kind of crappy. Nu-Trek (Disc, Pic) has been simply unwatchable: just poor quality writing and story telling with unlikeable main characters. Haven't seen SNW yet, so hope springs eternal.