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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 19th, 2023

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  • I think it seems hard to believe that the show really will end here. It just has the energy of a show with too much power behind it, both among fans and the people who made the show. And I think Newsome appears to agree with that take:

    As far as the people creating it, we all would love to do that. I don’t know who writes the check for that, so I don’t know if they think it’s possible. But Mike has stories upon stories in him for these characters. He could do 10 more seasons. He is not done. None of us are done. Me, Jack, Eugene and Noël and not to mention the rest of our bridge crew and our recurring characters. Everybody’s like, “Yep, sign me up. We’ll be the next ‘Futurama.’ We’ll come back in 10 years, whatever you want.” So we’re all game.






  • Overall, I think it was foreshadowed enough. In the first episode of the season, we see him having transitioned entirely to inorganic parts to fully bury his emotions, and in the end of this we see him deciding to go the other way. And I liked it.

    I’m often a little critical of what seem like anti-transhumanist takes that assume organic parts are inherently superior, and mechanization is a defilement of god’s creation. But in this case, I didn’t feel like his choice was that. It felt like – and this is a complicated comparison, so follow me – an examination of what is often called “detransitioning”.

    I say “often called” because I don’t think a transgender person adopting a prior gender presentation IS “detransitioning”. I think it’s just transitioning further. There’s a sort of irony, to me, in the taboo within trans-allyship toward transitioning back towards a prior gender expression, because bigots will always say that anyone who does so is proof that their transition was a mistake, and then claim that every transition is a mistake. I think this is ironic, because I celebrate anyone living their truth, and truths are complicated, and they change as we change.

    Which is to say that I like cyborg Rutherford. And I also like non-cyborg Rutherford. And if Rutherford got cybernetics again or got biopunk mods, I think I’d like that Rutherford too.

    I hope we do get to see more of all these characters.


  • I feel like this finale did a very impressive job of tying things up, not in the way that they are concluded and done but that we see a transition in which that which we know has ended, and now the characters are going off toward grand new things. Which is a great approach to providing resolution without essentially killing and mounting your characters like butterflies in a collection.

    But also, I sort of wonder if part of the intent was to loudly tell the fans and the network that if anyone was curious, the writers had a ton of juice in the battery. This is pure speculation, but I feel like the thematic message of this finale was something to the effect of ‘Just in case anyone wondered if we’re finishing because we didn’t have more to say, wrong, WRONG, WRONG. We could’ve made another five jam-packed high quality seasons of this easily.’

    That’s what I felt watching it. Tendi and Rutherford’s bond was always strong, but I long wondered if a romantic pairing was a possibility or not. It didn’t feel obvious or obviously out of place. Seeing Rutherford remove the implant provided in just a single scene a lot of fodder to consider what we could learn about him as a person and technology in seeing how he is the same and how he is different without the implant. And seeing him essentially look up from his cell phone and realize he has a crush on his best friend he was long avoiding thinking about is a great direction for him to go, imo. I think that would be a great story, regardless of whether it culminates in a lasting romance or leads to a decision to remain platonic.

    I’d never quite liked Ransom. I don’t hate him, but his gimmick always annoyed more than endeared. But in the last minute, I had to admit that it has worked. He’s supposed to annoy, but also to remain hard to dislike. You want to dislike him, but he won’t quite let you. “Engage the core!” landed very well with me. That’s a catch phrase that kind of gets both more tired with use, and funnier as it gets more tired. I’d love to see him deliver this incredibly groan-inducing line in a moment of genuine high stakes drama, at which point you’d have no choice but to admit… it’s become iconic (and you’d hate him for doing that).

    Anyway, 3 out of 5 stars (Jk, I loved the finale. Paramount should just announce that they’ve reassessed and green-lit another season. Seems like an obvious thing to do, but we’ll see).





  • I agree.

    The recipe for this show is just so good. I’m really not into most of the newer stuff where they’re trying to one-up every previous series in scope and stakes. I’m thinking particularly of Discovery here. It’s fine for those who like these things, but I think having a show that’s blasse about the routineness of life-threatening adventures and also presenting characters that seem like Trekies themselves as audience proxies is such a refreshing way to both enjoy the adventures and take the pressure off of the expectation that each show somehow has to out-do all the previous adventures of all the previous crews of all the previous Enterprises.



  • Still, there was such a catharsis to his eye rolling dismissal. I don’t have the exact quotes, but when he remarks that the bad guy is certain to be this or that or this or “human Worf” or some other shocking known character I really had to smile. Also his description of it as an endless parade of lazy rehashings was just on point.

    Obviously, I still enjoy it, because here we are enjoying it. But at points his weariness and sarcasm were reminding me (favorably) of Rick and Morty. With way less cynicism, but with a lot of the same remarkably well-executed self-aware snark.


  • These are great tips.

    I think the solution might be using a bunch of these.

    Do you have any advice on speeding up their breakdown? Are there any tools or practices that cause them to shrink in volume faster? I think she’s just trying to manage slipping on walkways and visual effect, and she has a very high volume.

    I think making small piles and letting them rot is probably a good idea. I think mulching them and raking them into beds is probably smart. I’ll try stuff and see.



  • Yeah. This article reads like an April Fools Day piece.

    ‘The best part of Game of Thrones, all fans agree, was the stellar ending which perfectly concluded the show by showcasing the characters’ consistent ideologies and habits’,

    ‘The Simpsons is a show that has managed to somehow get better with every single passing season. And in doing so, its cultural relevancy is as sharp and defining as it has ever been.’

    ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks has ultimately proven unpopular because of its unconventional choice to depict adventuring through the stars as a morose and dreary affair. The dour, rule-abiding protagonist Mariner’s recurring catch phrase ‘I do not model courage and loyalty to my friends and ideals,’ was a perplexing thing for her to shout at a minimum of 6 times in each episode, unprompted.’