The Mandalorian

Who Is Yasmin Finney? Doctor Who's Rose Noble Explained

As much as I enjoyed the new Doctor Who Special, I didn't realize that the daughter character is played by a dude. There is a hint in the show that this character is transgender, but the hint goes by so fast I missed it.

https://thedirect.com/article/doctor-who-yasmin-finney-rose-noble-explained

Andor Is A Star Wars Masterpiece From 1978

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzv250fEaE

Andor doesn't feel like Star Wars because it is not a glitzy comic book movie deliberately reminiscent of Flash Gordon.

Instead, Andor is a gritty science fiction soap opera about living under a fascist regime.  It could have been its own thing unrelated to Star Wars.  The show is character-driven, and almost every single character is outstanding, which is why everyone loves the show.

River Song | HELLO SWEETIE

When two time travelers meet each other at different periods of their lives, completely out of sequence, the relationship can be complicated.  It is even more complicated when one has been programmed to kill the other.  It created an epic story.

MAJOR SPOILERS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkZplFua6CM

Lost in Space | American Soundscapes | Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

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The real origin of the Daleks

This is from a Doctor Who charity show.

My biggest fear for Star Wars

@john2001plus
1 second ago
To put Star Wars in context, in 1977 I was 17 years old.  We were living during the Cold War, where the Soviet Union could be viewed as the Evil Empire, while the fight against the Nazis during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War didn't seem like ancient history, but were still relevant in our minds.  The thought of nuclear annihilation also felt like a very real possibility.

We were going through the worst economic decade of my lifetime.  Some people might look at the events that followed 2008 as being the worst, but the American economy was much more robust in 2008 and able to eventually rebound.  However, the 1970s was just one piece of bad news after another.  The country felt like it was in a giant malaise.

Then came Star Wars in 1977, which to my 17-year-old mind felt like a godsend.  It was a metaphor for a hopeful battle against all the evils that plagued us.

Star Wars became an important part of my life, and it influenced my career toward computers and video game development.  To this day, Star Wars feels like a part of my personality.

At my more advanced age of 63, I notice how violent Star Wars is.  This didn't seem like much of an issue in 1977 when the characters were fighting Space Nazis, because the 1970s felt like an existential struggle against the forces of evil.  For example, Star Wars calls light sabers an elegant weapon, but how elegant is cutting people in half or cutting their heads off?  It would be like calling a battle axe an elegant weapon.

All this makes me wonder how relevant Star Wars is to our current time?  The 20th century was by far the most violent in history, which made mechanized murder on a mass scale feel more normal.  I think that there was less regard for the individual, which is something we take to extreme levels today.

I feel far less threatened by outside forces today than I did after 9-11, or in the 60s, the 70s, and the 80s.

We can still fantasize about a struggle for survival between good and evil, but good and evil in the modern world are less distinct from one another.

This makes me think that Star Wars has to change to remain relevant.  The original movie gave us 1970s characters in a futuristic setting.  The recent series Andor did a great job of giving us modern characters in the same setting and feels more relevant to the time we live in.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

The Acolyte (2024) | Teaser Trailer

Family Affair - Johnny Whitaker

I grew up watching this show. Brian Keith Sebastian Cabot, and Johnny Whitaker also appeared in other shows and movies. I was a fan of Johnny Whitaker who was roughly the same age as me. He played the titular character Tom Sawyer in a 1973 movie that got good reviews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Affair

I assumed that people would be aware of these actors, but two of my friends who were both born in 1971 never heard of the show or the actors. It was before their time.

I was a fan of many shows from the late 60s and early 70s.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

The Surprisingly Short History of Paramedics

https://youtube.com/shorts/dxcDj_yRWBk?si=AeNtAXezkzn83Wzp

First New York and then the nation.

Bablyon 5

The Best Home Projector I Have Ever Used! - AWOL 3500 4k PRO

https://youtu.be/Kcw9H8DWNPA?si=wixQ377j7WyFAPi5

The Simpsons Live Action Opening

https://youtu.be/khIx5EB74vY?si=CkKCbS4_9Xde6Mnr

Ahsoka - Bad Writing, Pandering And Wasted Potential

The Jedi, The Witch, The Warlord and a bunch of questions to try and answer...

In my opinion, The Ahsoka series is a mixture of good and bad.  There is enough good that the bad doesn't bother me too much.

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
As logically flawed as the episode is, I enjoy watching these characters and there is just enough action to make me not worry too much about logic.



@john2001plus
25 minutes ago
The episode mostly worked for me, but much less so initially.  It started very weak.  Rather than a single moment separating the good from the bad, it was more of a continuous transition throughout the entire episode.

Darth Vader sings My Way (AI Cover)

What NEEDS to happen in the 'Ahsoka Series' Finale (But won't)

What did Ahsoka know about Anakin | Why we still watch Star Wars?

I will swear to my dying breath that The Last Jedi is an entertaining movie because I found it entertaining. In the same way, I find the Ahsoka series entertaining despite some of my friends saying it is stupid and boring. (Having watched The Clone Wars and Rebels, I am more invested in these characters than they are.)

The Last Jedi has some brief cringe-worthy dialog, but this didn't bother me because the story overall is pretty good. 

I think that the problem with The Last Jedi for most people is the image of Luke as a lightsaber-holding madman about to kill his nephew. However, this image was from Kylo-Ren's perspective. We get a milder version of Luke from his own perspective. This follows the Rashomon idea of telling the same story from different perspectives. 

 Maybe people who hate The Last Jedi after just one viewing would hate it less after watching it a second time.

What did Ahsoka know about Anakin | Why we still watch Star Wars?

One thing we never saw in the prequels or shows is whether the Jedi are paid or have money.  We never saw a home or an apartment for Obi-Wan, Annakin, or Ahsoka.  These people must have food and shelter, and a means to pay for it.  Do they live like monks?   We see Obi-Wan buy a drink in Attack of the Clones.

(BTW, when the title "Attack of the Clones" was announced way back when, we Star Wars Fans were like, "Are you kidding me?")

BTW, the lack of money in Star Trek is equally troublesome if not more so.  Is every human in the Star Trek universe a ward of the state?  

Has 'he' already made a huge, uncharacteristic mistake? (Ahsoka Series Part Six)

Star Wars Ahsoka "CHAPTER SIX: FAR, FAR AWAY" Review

Well that was interesting... "Ahsoka" Episode 6 Spoiler Review & Discussion - YouTube

@john2001plus
1 hour ago
The entire "Ahsoka the White" plot seems like a ripoff of The Lord of the Rings, not that I mind.  It still makes for a good story.


@john2001plus
2 hours ago (edited)
I have been unhappy with how the live-action characters look compared to their animated counterparts, and even more so with the live-action Ezra, who looks and sounds different than the animated Ezra Bridger.  However, I can live with it.  

Other characters that didn't seem to match include the Grand Inquisitor, and young Ahsoka.  However, the young actress gave a great performance.  I think that she should have her own series!

When Ezra complained about his rescue taking so long, I found it a bit odd.  He took Thrawn "far far away", and just so happened to have made a recording in advance saying that that he was going away.  It seems a bit implausible and contrived.  How did he know in advance that he was going away and needed rescue?  How was Sabine supposed to rescue him?  Can't Ezra make his own rescue?

It looks like I was wrong in my prediction that there will be a second attempt to find Ezra.  The live-action scene copied from Rebels had enough differences from the original that I read too much into those differences.

Hour long programs and bathroom breaks :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqkLH4EGjm0&t=374s

Star Wars Meme Monday with Thor & Naboo (Episode 085)

This was the best episode yet according to fans (Let's Talk Some Star Wars)

I get quoted in this video:

Ahsoka

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQjQKfvegGtmr123OVT6Fecd4d0J0u9No

Ahsoka and Rebels Side by Side Comparison (shot by shot)

There is an early scene in the live-action Ahsoka series that mirrors the ending of the animated Star Wars Rebels series, making one show a continuation of the other.  However, there are confusing differences, most importantly the way Ahsoka appeared in the animated series as "Ahsoka the White" mirroring "Ghandoff the White" from The Lord of the Rings.  This implies that she has been through a life-changing near-death experience which makes her into a stronger "wizard".  However, this plot point is clearly a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/H63A2VC9_Sk

I have a theory that "Ahsoka the White" is how the first season of Ahsoka will end. We could be looking at the second attempt to find Ezra, with a second almost identical scene that more closely matches the animated version. This would make sense, because in the animated version, Sabine puts on her helmet, which is not what we saw in live action. Therefore, we have not only a more advanced Ahsoka but also a more advanced Sabine who reembraces her Mandalorian heritage.

Having the exact same cliffhanger at the end of season 1 of Ahsoka as the end of Rebels would cause people to groan, but it would get us to watch season 2.  At least it rhymes, as George Lucas liked to say.

Doctor Who

I am concerned about the next version of Doctor Who starting around November, which is the 60th anniversary of the show.

They hired a gay actor to play possibly a gay Doctor Who.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ncuti_Gatwa

The previous versions of Doctor Who had some relationships which clearly identified the character as heterosexual.  If they decide to change the character without a good explanation, then it seems to me that this would destroy the character.

They retconned the previous version of Doctor Who in a way that completely rewrote the history of the character.  For the most part, the fans aren't happy about the change.

The Doctor Who series was extremely good about 13 years ago, which is why I am still interested in the show, but it went slowly downhill after that.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

This was SPECTACULAR!

SPOILERS.

A truly great episode? "Ahsoka" Episode 4 Spoiler Review

What did fans think of the first episodes of "Ahsoka"? (Let's Talk Some Star Wars)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ez8KAqk26I&list=PLQjQKfvegGtmr123OVT6Fecd4d0J0u9No&index=1