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mariaiscrafting · 4 years ago

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can i ask why you dislike dream? im not being passive agressive or something lol i am genuinely curious

S’all good, kinda figured you weren’t being, and a lot of people have asked me this lol. There are so many reasons, and I’ve said this so many times already, but I’ll try to go over some of the main things I can remember:

1) Arrogance: kinda put me off how he’s always responded to criticism. Always kinda had an air of superiority about shit, and it never really bothered me on its own because I think lots of CCs are arrogant & I’m arrogant myself, but combined with all of the following, it became a reason for me to dislike him lol

2) Manipulation of his audience: look, I kinda always knew that CCs with huge fanbases, especially CCs who grow this quickly, have some kind of grasp of how to treat and foster their audience to their greatest advantage. I’ve always been wary of CCs that put on soft or nice personalities, especially since the whole Shane Dawson debacle. But with Dream, it’s been a whole other thing ever since his cheating response video, and I’ve never been able to see him in a good light in regard to how he responds to his fans, ever since. I went into it in a lot more detail back when I first watched the video, the day it dropped, but I’m too exhausted to scrounge that post up, so I’ll summarize: that video had a very specific strategy that he used to victimize himself and appeal to his fans’ compassion for him, and after rewatching the video for the third time that day, it felt gross and calculated to me. The way that he focuses very little on the actual mathematical part of his argument. The way he frames the issue of the mods having favoritism or bias. It was already proven on Reddit and throughout Twitter that the numbers the mods looked at were for good reason, and not because they just wanted to pick the numbers that made Dream look the worst, but that’s how he framed the argument. When I logged onto Twitter and Tumblr that day, there were thousands of fans who had latched onto what he said in the latter half of that video and coming to Dream’s defense, and that’s kinda when it hit me: this guy fucking knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing it well, and I really really dislike it. There’s about a hundred other ways he manipulates his audience, including not coming to people’s defenses when huge chunks of his audience attack them (even though the people had respectful and correct criticisms of him), defending stans so adamantly in the face of antis, and posting periodic alt tweets that help garner the illusion that he super cares about his fans; but, that cheating response video was the major red flag, for me.

3) Cheating & lying: as is likely no surprise to y’all, I think Dream cheated lmao. At first, I was ecstatic that he had actually made a detailed response video and put out a report with the help of an actual professional, but as I read up on his supposed statistical argument and dissected the parts of his argument that felt off to me, I realized maybe he had cheated. Talking to some STEM major friends of mine, who weren’t into MCYT but had obviously heard about the whole debacle because they like Twitter and Minecraft, kinda put the nail in the coffin for me. I’m not nearly smart enough or have a good enough memory to detail exactly why I think he cheated on this blog, right now, in April, but essentially: his main argument relied upon claiming mod bias, instead of a sound mathematical or statistical argument; there’s no way of proving that the world files he provided to the mods and in the open source weren’t altered; the statistical problems he points out (i.e., stopping effect) don’t actually skew the original mods’ model nearly as much as his supposed PhD guy would say; and the odds he comes up with might not be nearly as impossible as 1 in 7 trillion, but they still come up to around 1 in 100 million, which is still fucking ridiculous, considering that there are only, like, 120 million people in the world who play Minecraft. Not impossible, but laughable that he expects people to believe that. But... I guess they did, lmao. The thing that peeved me the most about the whole thing was the adamant lying lmao. When you look at the situation from the perspective of “dream cheated,” you realize just how fucked up all his Twitter responses, his adamance in streams and that video, and the general mood among his friends is... idk man, it’s just highly fucked.

4) Relationship with stans: look, there are significant numbers of his fans that take part in Twitter cancelling vendettas, who spread around information about other CCs and their fellow fans that is false and meant to villify them, etc., and he never fucking says anything. It really, really bothers me. There are too many instances to enumerate, but a few that have caught my eye were when Dream stans would attack Techno, prior to their battle and when a Native American woman politely explained why he shouldn’t use Native music, he responded and said he wouldn’t, but tons of stans continued to attack her in her replies for “being so harsh/mean.” Like, he knows that just one word from him will make his fandom follow his beck and call. All it would’ve taken was one fucking word. There are so many fucking people that have been harrassed off of social media platforms because of the hivemind that is dttwt, for christ’s sake.

5) Reddit posts: All of the above were reasons for me to mildly dislike the guy prior to the Reddit posts, but they weren’t really enough to make me stop posting about c!Dream or reblogging fanart or reading DNF fics or watching Manhunts. I kinda just clowned on the guy, answered the occasional ask about the cheating thing or something related, and left it at that. The Reddit posts not only pissed me off for their content, but for the lying, as well. Do you think I fucking cared about him cheating at speedrunning Minecraft, of all games? Fuck no. What I cared about was the adamant lying that went into the whole debacle. Kinda the same with the Reddit posts. I’m one to usually forgive creators who acknowledge past errors, obviously. It is creators who try to brush stuff off, or even worse, create an elaborate lie to cover up allegations, that put me off a fuck ton. This is the reason I could never be comfortable with watching Pewdipie after I realized all the shit he had brushed off, and it’s now the reason I can’t go back to watching Dream. There is so much evidence that points to guilt, including but not limited to: his first move when the slideshow dropped (before posting to Twitter) being deleting as many old Discord messages as he could, the contradiction between him at first denying the account was his at all then changing the story to say he shared it with a friend, the wording and phrasing in the political posts being almost identical to the non-political posts that were clearly him (i.e., the one that explains his demographics perfectly), and the timing of the political posts (some of them being posted mere minutes after posts that were verifiably him, like the picture of Patches to the cats subreddit). People can claim that he’s likely changed, and what this it matter, as long as politics don’t affect his work now, but I can’t believe this fundamental misunderstanding of why bigotry in entertainment matters. I’ve always had a problem with the adoration this fandom has for cishet white men, and the constant criticism of non-cishet, non-white, non-men, but this really feels like the final slap in the fucking face. It’s like everyone truly believes that it doesn’t matter, that his beliefs couldn’t have possibly affected the way he’s treated fellow CCs in his circles or any of the number of people that depend upon Dream, directly and indirectly, for employment/CC clout. It’s like everyone truly believes that political ideology has no effect on the way we perceive, treat, and behave around other people in literally any field, not just politics. I, just... Christ. I don’t really wanna unpack my emotions about this whole thing right now, so I won’t. I’ll just say: I dislike Trump supporters and ex-Trump supporters alike, I dislike conservatives who claim they’re centrists (every fucking guy my age does this, it’s infuriating and makes me want to bash my head into the nearest wall), I dislike people who levy their fans against criticism - even when it’s righteous - and I dislike people who lie about their past actions; Dream fits all those categories, so I dislike him.

#lol would it be okay if this were my last dream crit post? im very tired #i just... diont wanna talk about him anymore lol #dream critical #discourse #/neg #asks #Anonymous

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livsinpjs · 4 years ago

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Believe in the Green Light (pt 1) the pursued

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” - F. Scott. Fitzgerald

The BAU team is called into Pasadena, California after the deaths of three lead to an investigation revolving around Gatsby, a new drug that hit the market at a dead sprint. When a raid on a house reveals the creator of the drug, a young man no one even knew was missing, Jason Gideon and co. find themselves involved in a case bigger than they originally thought.

It was getting dark; the sun creeping below the horizon slowly, like if it moved slow enough, no one would notice its disappearance. Founders Park had been left barren, years ago. After the murder of a young family, the neighborhood had unanimously agreed to leave the children's park to the elements. The grass was overgrown and weeds were poking through the small play structures, nature slowly reclaiming what was originally hers. Yet, in the here and now, Founders Park still had its fair share of visitors. Partying teenagers seeking a place to escape; to sit with their peers and drink or smoke to their heart’s content, without the fear of reprimanding or punishment from their parents. Currently, while dusk turned to night, three figures sat around each other, drinking, and laughing. The eldest of the three passed a blunt around their group and they all eagerly took hits, letting their exhales pass through the air, creating a cloud muck above them.

The oldest of the group said something and they all broke out into a fit of laughter, not noticing the black Lincoln LS pull up to the side of the road just in front of the park. Another of the boys added onto the previous joke and their laughter continued, filtering through the fog of smoke and right into the ears of a man exiting his vehicle and slowly approaching, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

The lone man slowly closed in on the group; by the time one of them noticed he was only a couple of feet away. His fingers gripped an object in his front pocket. The oldest of the group, a man looking to be in his early twenties passed the blunt off to one of his younger companions and casually stood up, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He met the stranger in the middle, attempting to put up an intimidating aura, raising his chin and looking down at him.

“Ya need something pal?” He asked, letting an air of annoyance flow through his tone, projecting the fact that he was irritated with the man and trying to subtly hint towards the stranger's wanted departure.

The man in question grit his teeth. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, bouncing from foot to foot like he didn’t know how to voice his thoughts aloud. The young man was getting more and more impatient by the second. “Spit it out already!” He demanded after a few moments.

The stranger grit his teeth once more; a look of finality settled into his face; then pure, unadulterated, rage.

Before the boy could identify the new emotion contorting the man's face, two shots rang out. Then he was on his back staring at the sky. He noticed that he could barely make out the stars through the clouds and, for a moment, mourned their absence from his vision. After that though, he registered the pain. He could only think of one word. Excruciating. Then the ringing in his ears morphed into something else. Yelling; a chorus of “oh my god” and “what the fuck man?!” ringing through the night air. He looked around, trying to locate the source and his eyes landed on a terrible sight.

The man had moved closer to the other two boys, gun pointed at the youngest. He said something the injured man couldn’t make out, and then another shot rattled in his head. He saw the youngest boy crumple in on himself and the other boy lunge to his side, gripping onto his companion, trying to keep the life from seeping out of him. He was crying and saying something but the young man couldn't hear him over the roar in his ears. He seemed to be pleading with the shooter, shaking his head feverishly and cradling the younger boy in his arms. The stranger appeared to become more enraged by this and shot the injured and barely conscious boy again, killing him.

The dead boy's companion was screaming now. A long note that just continued and continued. It ripped at his throat and it seemed like it would never waver. A constant sound that reverberated throughout the park.

Another shot.

Then two more.

The stranger took heaving breaths, shaking with rage. The kind that you could suppress but never truly vanquish. Then he began to walk back to his car.

The young man, still on the ground laid there for a moment in shock. He had been shot and his friends had just been killed. He doesn’t know what compels him, maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was sheer stupidity, but he rolled onto his stomach, not even registering the pain as the adrenaline kicked in and his body went into shock and he opened his mouth.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he never had to figure it out; because the man had turned to view his work one last time before fleeing the scene and his eyes fell onto his first victim who was, obviously, still very much alive. Before any thought could go through the young man’s head, three more shots rang out into the air.

The stranger entered his car and sped off into the night, leaving three more corpses to the history of Founders Park.

~CRIMINAL MINDS~

Jason Gideon was a lot of things. Impatient wasn’t one of them. Yet he found himself continually refreshing his computer, watching and waiting for an email he wasn’t sure was even coming anymore. After refreshing once more and not getting the results he had hoped for, he quickly closed out of his computer and turned to the pile of paperwork he had been putting off.

Just as he was adjusting his reading glasses, media liaison Jennifer Jareau knocked quietly at his open door.

“We have a case,” she said softly, raising the files in her hand as an indication.

Saved by the bell.

~CRIMINAL MINDS~

“Early this morning, the bodies of 17-year-old Michael Nook and his 19-year-old brother Steven Nook, along with 21-year-old James McCarthy were discovered in a park in Pasadena, California.” Jennifer pressed a button on her remote and the pictures of Michael and Steven Nook appeared on screen, then the mugshot of James McCarthy popped up beside them. “They were found by the Rameriez family, all shot to death.”

SSAs Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Jason Gideon sat at the round table, each flipping through their copy of the case file while they listened to JJ as she continued.

“It appears that James was the first shot, but his time of death was shortly after the Nook brothers. Michael was shot twice, Steven three times, and James five.”

“It looks like the Unsub shot McCarthy first, assumed he was dead and went to kill the other two. Later he found him still alive and finished the job.” Morgan added his observation.

“There is definite overkill here,” Gideon supplied. “The first shot to Steven killed him instantly yet he shot him two more times. James would have died of blood loss before anyone even noticed he was injured, yet the Unsub shot him an additional three times in the head.”

“Four years ago, the park where the bodies were discovered, Founders Park, was the scene of a mugging gone wrong. Gillian Murphy shot and killed Kayla and Laurence Arnold, along with their four-year-old daughter Sadie, after Laurence refused to give up their family belongings. Locals are afraid the two might be connected and have insisted that the FBI become involved for the safety of their children.

“The boys were said to have been frequenting the park for years, known to drink and smoke and occasionally do the harder stuff.”

“There is no indication that the two crimes are connected. Murphy has been incarcerated since his arrest four years ago, and there are no indications that the Arnolds knew either the Nooks or James McCarthy. Plus nothing appears to have been stolen.” Hotchner pointed out.

“Yes, but it may be connected to other cases in Pasadena these past 6 weeks.” JJ continued, pressing more buttons on her remote. “There have been 24 deaths and multiple raids all connected to a new drug that has appeared in the area. They call it Gatsby. It’s known to create a psychedelic dissociation as well as mix the euphoria of heroin, and the hallucinations of LSD.

“CSI found copious amounts of Gatsby on each of the victims' person.”

“Alright,” Hotchner closed his case file, “This looks like it may be more than what it originally appears.

“Wheels up in thirty.”

pt 1 | pt 2 | pt 3 | pt 4|

#spencer reid #criminal minds #liv's fics #fanfiction #angst #pt 1 #derek morgan #aaron hotchner #jason gideon #jennifer jj jareau #penelope garcia

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letterstothemidnightsociety · 4 years ago

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THURSDAY OCTOBER 8, one of the longest running television shows of our time begins airing the final episodes of it’s final season. Guys, Supernatural is 15. FIFTEEN. It can practically drive a car now. As one friend put it, “that show had a Quinceañera.” And if you don’t know how significant that is, think of the last show you know of that made it to season 10. Take your time, I’ll wait.

Whoever I stole this birthday invite from, they are probably older than this show.

I started watching Supernatural in 2008. I was 19, I had just begun my journey towards Over-Worked, Under-Slept Millennial, and my best friend recommended it. I can’t really remember how the conversation went, but I’m sure at some point it was “It’s scary, and it’s got these two brothers, I’ll send you a link!” cuz we were trash and we were broke and Netflix...existed? Hulu existed, but not in the way that either of those sites work now, so we watched by...ahem...other means. It is probably why my first laptop stopped working after 3 semesters of college.

And damn, I was hooked. I don’t do scary movies and honestly, I was legit creeped out by a lot of these episodes, but it had two hot dudes who took down a monster every week and then (the real kicker) had a bigger, season-long mystery they were trying to solve. And occasionally, they got punched in their big dumb beautiful faces. If I had known what a kink was at the time, I would have said that someone was reading my dream diary.

Over the next 12 years - Let me say that again for those of you in the back - TWELVE YEARS - I had an on-again-off-again relationship with the Winchesters. It was pretty hot and heavy in the beginning. I was jumping on the back of this 67 Chevy Impala 3 years in, so I had three seasons that I bought on DVD that I binged and was caught up with season 4 by the time the midseason started to air in late January of 2009. I was introducing all my friends to Supernatural, I made several people watch the entire first disc of season 1 with me, irregardless of whether they’d asked or not. Things started to cool down towards the end of season 4 as life started picking up and I know...I caught...the tail end of season 5? I think? I distinctly remember the final scene of the final episode, but honestly, I can’t remember how much of that season I actually watched.

At that point, I considered Supernatural to be a weird pseudoaddiction. I’d be clean for a while, years even, and then Netflix caught up with consumers and I could binge whole seasons in a weekend. It’d be, oh, I could just watch an episode. Just one episode. Maybe two. And then the weekend is gone in a blaze of classic rock and rock salt and I’m left with something like but not necessarily a hangover where my feelings live. I think I did this for seasons 6 through, like, 8? Eventually, Netflix stopped putting it at the top of my dashboard and it was easier to avoid. And I said to myself, well, when they finally get to the last season, THEN I’ll go on one last run, one last big score, and watch the whole series again in one go.

But the seasons kept coming?? And they?? Didn’t stop?? Guys, I don’t know how many of you care about this but, Friends, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time that defined an entire generation had ten seasons. TEN. Supernatural is ending with fifteen! For an industry where most shows don’t make it past a pilot, let alone a season 1, this is INSANE.

But now it’s ending. Even though a pandemic halted production just two episodes away from the finale, Supernatural is finally outta cassette tapes. The Wayward Sons may finally (??) be laying their wearied heads to rest (?? lol, I know).

And frankly, 2020’s been a real sh*tshow so I thought “Why not?”

And if I’m doing this and I’m not interacting with anyone on a human level, I might as well chronicle this epic dive into a time capsule of television because frankly, what the hell else am I doing?

Cuz that’s what this is guys. 15 years in TV time is multiple lifespans. Shows are born, grow into something Emmy-worthy, and die in less time than Supernatural has been on the air. You know what else aired their pilot episode in 2005? The American version of The Office. You know when The Office ended? 2013.

So let’s talk about pilots because that in and of itself may be a thing of the past not too far from now.

Guys, I love pilots. I will probably say this a lot over the next, uhhhh...many months, but I love pilots and I love season ones, especially for a sci-fi and fantasy shows because that’s where your characters are at their most vulnerable, their most unsure. The writers and producers are really digging around, trying to figure out what the groundwork for this world is and there’s something so exciting about exploring it with them, as an audience.

Pilot’s are great, pilots on spec are even better, and that’s a lot of what the Supernatural Pilot feels like. It’s got a real indie/guerilla-style horror movie vibe, like the crew scraped together just enough cash for that one special effect scene but had to skimp out on a lot of the other production stuff, and still managed to turn something around that is totally, 100% watchable and somehow more charming than if they’d had the budget to make something really polished? Go watch Night of the Living Dead (1968) and tell me that movie would have been better if they’d had a bigger budget. You could, but I won’t agree.

Ok so a quick break down of technical terms. A television pilot is basically the first episode of a TV show. Well, that’s not exactly true. A pilot is kind of like making a sample or a blueprint of your show that you hand over to the television networks and say, here! This is what my TV show will look like. Will you pay me money to continue making it? And the networks (think ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and The CW - remember, this is Network, not cable) will spend January through April of every year reviewing pilots and deciding if they want to pay you money to make more episodes. Well, every year except 2020. See: sh*tshow. Sometimes the network comes to you with an idea, or maybe, you’ve pitched your script/show to some executives and they buy in for that first pilot episode to see where things will go. Neither of these scenarios are a sure thing, and pilot season is always rife with will-they-won’t-they tension. In fact, if you’re working on the show, there’s a real possibility that pilot will get re-shot after studio notes, you’ll lose your job to someone the studio liked better, and then the show still may not get picked up. A pilot shot on spec is in even more of a limbo scenario because nobody asked for this! And just to follow through on Pilot Season - after the networks decide to buy your pilot, they then air the pilot at Upfronts (usually in May) where their many ad companies decide if they will pay money to air their ads during those shows. This is where we get things like prime time and key demographics - if you thought TV was all about the art, you are very wrong. TV, like most other industries, is still a business that’s about making money.

Back to the Supernatural pilot. Now, from my research, series creator Eric Kripke had been working on the concept for 10 years. He was big into classic rock, big into urban legends and big into cowboys and all those things get married ever so neatly in this show. A lot of his initial ideas remain unchanged, at least for the first season - he wants two brothers, traveling across the country, facing off with America’s Spookiest Myths and legends. A lot of it did change. I honestly feel like I remember reading an early draft of the pilot where Sam and Dean are cowboys? But I’m also pretty sure I’m imaging that. What I’m not imagining is this ridiculous early draft where John’s been locked in an insane asylum, dies before the first episode starts, and Sam’s been living with an aunt and uncle his whole life and knows nothing. They still use something close enough to the La Llorona legend as the catalyst for the episode, but a lot of other things are changed. This is not the Sam and Dean we come to know and love. This is also a good example of when you SHOULD listen to notes, because this draft was rewritten after executive producer McG and his Wonderland Sound and Vision production company signed on, but before they actually shot the script.

Now from what I’ve read, the WB picked the show up for (4) episodes initially, and ultimately picked it up for a full season of (22) episodes. This was, at the time, a pretty standard season and a pretty standard way to get it. They had a better deal than The Office, anyway, which only got picked up for (6) episodes in their first season, then got picked up four episodes at a time for season 2.

Now let’s go over that paragraph one more time and talk about what a hecking DINOSAUR this show is -

FIRST off - Supernatural premiered on THE WB. It PREDATES The CW!!

Man guys, you remember they had a frog as a mascot? Oof, that would not work today.

Secondly, it got 22 EPISODES. We’ll get into this some more when we talk about that evil bugs filler ep, but think about how many episodes were in the last show that you binged on Netflix? 8? Maybe 10?

Welcome to the exciting world of GRAPHS brought to you buy https://www.theringer.com/tv/2017/8/4/16094348/inefficiency-week-mourning-the-lost-long-tv-season

OH! And SPEAKING of Netflix and streaming services like them, they’re kind of killing pilot season AND upfronts. They pick up shows when they want to. They “air” them when they feel like. There are no ads because you pay for that content on a monthly basis and also they don’t even have commercial breaks. I am slowly seeing the passage of time in one (1) episode of television and I think I’ve aged 100 years.

Here is just one of MANY articles about the death of Pilot Season

Finally, and most importantly, this show got a better deal than The Office. And that show was an NBC primetime show.

This show was nominated for 193 awards and won 50. And it ended when my nephew was still in kindergarten. He’s gonna be in high school next year.

So what about this Supernatural Pilot? Was it any good? Honestly, I’m gonna say yeah. This is some very solid Hero’s Journey here. I think the only weird thing about it is that Sam is our Hero, our point of contact character that gets us into this world. And I only say that because I’ll be real up front and say that I’m a Dean girl through and through. I don’t hate Sam, but because we live in a world where we have to choose, it’s Dean 4Eva.

From that early script draft, we learn the plan was for Sam to be in the dark and essentially be our audience stand in so that Dean can explain all the backstory. I think the decision to make John Winchester raise his kids as a weird fringe paramilitary outfit and establish Sam as the brother that tried to get away is a good one. It’s a very “Arrive Late” (or if you’re fancy, in media res,) sort of attitude and it works and you’ve already started building in the Atonement with the Father. There’s still some pretty excellent exposition dialogue, but what are ya gonna do. Sam, did you really need to explain to Dean that your collective father “raised you like warriors”? Or that you “kill everything we CAN find?” It’s fine. You’re beautiful and I love you. But also, he knows all that.

You have the Call to Adventure - Dean showing up and saying “Dad hasn’t been home in a few days.” You have the refusal of the call (“He’ll sleep it off”). You have your supernatural aid (hah!) giving Sam a push out the door - that’s Dean. You have your famous line that I quoted along with the TV - Dad’s on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days.

The dead mom backstory seems pretty on the nose, but the “burned on the ceiling” concept was new and unique enough that I was intrigued to find out more. Listen, I’ve already admitted I don’t watch a lot of horror so if this has been done before, don’t @ me.

La Llorona or Woman in White or Weeping Woman was a new trope to me at the time, so it too seemed fresh. I see that myth show up in a lot more Supernatural-type shows now, but in 2008, at 19, I was like, oh this is different. Not to mention - this definitely leaned in to the horror aspect. I know I’m a baby, but it aired at 9pm, which is the more adult side of Prime Time, so the WB thought it was too spooky for kids who had early bedtimes. So there.

I HATE when they do this cuz it freaks me out EVERY TIME and THAT’S NOT EVEN HOW THESE MIRRORS WORK??? SHE’S NOT EVEN IN THE BACK SEAT IN THIS SHOT!

And then at the END, when Sam STILL refuses the call to adventure, you have the real Crossing of the Threshold - Jess is ALSO stuck on the ceiling, dead, and on fire. Spoiler alert, but they had to fridge her early to make the rest of the season work and so it shouldn’t be a big surprise. Sam’s all in and we get 21 more episodes of him and Dean and that car.

Is it technically fridging if she’s lit on fire?

And let’s talk about Jess for a second cuz actress Adrianne Palicki is giving a LOT more in this performance than a fridged girlfriend should be required to. She’s likeable, she’s down to earth, she’s crushing it and and all this with only, like, two scenes of dialogue. I say this even though we meet her in a slutty nurse costume - COME on WB.

WB what the hell is this wardrobe. What the HELL is THIS.

In fact, all of the extras in this show are crushing it? Louis is instantly likeable and he disappears after his first scene, never to grace our TV’s again. And these extras in the town in Jericho, California - I kind of love them. As CW (or I guess, WB) as Jessica is, these extras look like they found them at the local highschool and I LOVE THEM FOR IT. They probably came to set already in makeup and wardrobe! They POSSIBLY brought their own jewelry! They’re weirdos and they are GREAT. I’m pretty sure this will NEVER happen again on this show because once the $$ came in, so did the more polished-looking one-off characters.

Lookit these magnificent goth weirdos! And great news, both these actresses have very full, non-goth careers after this.

Also, heckin’ Joseph Welch is just crushing it. This man has NOTHING CW about him and that’s maybe why I like him so much? Everything about the scene with him and Sam is pretty heartbreaking, from his rundown car graveyard to his rundown physique with his rundown accent to the fact that we never actually see his face. Seriously, really LOOK at this scene - WHAT is going on with this cinematography? Is this a reference to something? It’s SO bleached out and SO stark and WHAT is going on???

WHAT is this lighting? And also this guy was played by Steve Railsback was on X-Files!

You can’t talk about Supernatural without talking about the chemistry between Sam and Dean and that’s probably the real hook here? I mean a) very beautiful. I will probably talk about this a lot. Let’s call it what it is here, they’re beefcakes and they’re made for me and people like me. It is weird that this show is so macho but their primary audience was mostly there for the babes. And by babes I mean Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. And b) they REALLY sell the whole brothers thing. They’re both from Austin, TX which feels like a weird coincidence. They were both already on WB shows before this one, also a weird coincidence. And they just click. They just do. It’s impressive, and occasionally creepy when we start to get into the Wincest of it all, but lets not talk about that.

Oh, and the MUSIC! The music just makes it. If you don’t believe me, watch the Netflix version of the first season and then find yourself a DVD version. See, TV shows need to acquire a license to play popular music during the show. Nowadays, the CW actually tags their songs in the episode so you can find and presumably buy it later, but they still have to pay royalties for using those pop songs. When Netflix acquired Supernatural, they did NOT acquire the licensing to use the classic rock songs from ACDC, Metallica, etc. and so you’re left with some pretty bland and generic production music that’s something like but not necessarily Back in Black. More like, Back in...Grey? This pun didn't work how I wanted it to.

And the show just...doesn’t work? Like, who knew BACKINBLAAAAACK! Was so instrumental to whether I thought this was quality programming or not. Side note - it ruins my favorite piece of dialogue of maybe the entire series -

Sam: I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection.

Dean: Why?

Sam: Well, for one, they're cassette tapes.

Do the young people even know what a cassette tape is? I AM the CRYPTKEEPER.

So yeah, you got a lot of ingredients to make something pretty great. Did we know then that it would launch a juggernaut of a television program that would still be on the air in the Year of Our Reckoning, 2020? I was a big fan of Firefly, so I was 99.99% sure this show was gonna get canceled at any second. In fact, I was thrilled, in 2008, to find there were two more seasons after the one I was currently watching. Of course, season 3 aired around the time of the great Writer’s Strike of ‘07, where nothing looked good and few programs survived, but we’ll get there.

In a final, kind of spooky, almost premonition-type decision the WB actually decided to air this pilot episode a whole week early on Yahoo!. Yeah, you remember Yahoo!, right? The search engine that briefly tried to have its own original streaming content and then we all abandoned it in favor of the monster that is Google? Yeah. This episode premiered online. I haven’t done enough research, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this was probably one of the first ever TV shows to start on the internet? Weird to think that was a novel and innovative concept at one time.

So this is it. This is the end of the era. Are we gonna get any more shows that last as long as this one did? Who knows. Are we as a culture gonna care at that point? I don’t know. Our TV habits have changed so much in the last few years that it’s hard to say how we’ll watch TV in the future. But credit where it’s due, boys. Nice huntin’.

#Supernatural #season 1 #pilot #season 15 #Sam #Dean #Winchester #Television #Quarantine Binging #CW #WB

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stereogeekspodcast · 4 years ago

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[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 4. We’ve Been Busy With… Julie and the Phantoms, Star Trek: Discovery, and More

What are we enjoying when we aren't working? Mon's been busy with a few DC Comics, listening to the audiobook of One to Watch, catching up with Holiday Baking shows, and recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 for Show Snob. Ron has been listening to a 12 Monkeys podcast and EK Johnston's Queen's Peril. She's also been watching Julie and the Phantoms as well as recapping The Mandalorian Season 2 for Show Snob.

Listen to the episode on Anchor. Read Mon's recaps of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 here. Read Ron's recaps of The Mandalorian Season 2 here.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Hello and welcome to Episode Four of Stereo Geeks. I'm Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon.

Aside from our day jobs as marketers, and night jobs writing the occasional feature or story about pop culture, what have we been busy with?

So I've been catching up with my usual comic book titles. I follow Batman, Red Hood: Outlaw and Nightwing. I haven't really kept up with any other titles per se. I read comics in small doses; they get frustrating after a while or predictable. And I would say that that's also the case with just these three titles.

With Batman, we just had a huge change in his arc. There was the ‘Joker War’, which has brought about a huge change in his circumstances. Batman now no longer has access to his immense wealth. And he has to hide from the Wayne Manor; the Batcave. Let's just say that he's downsizing. So let's see how he goes.

He's living in a world that's post-Joker. But is the Joker gone? It’s a huge question. Have you been reading any Batman titles?

Ron: I've been catching up with the Batman title. And I think the last one that I read was #102. Last I saw, the Joker War was over and Batman was in dire straits financially.

I'm actually enjoying this direction for the character. I haven't really taken to Batman's characterization in the Rebirth comics. I thought he was staid. He was boring. He was very one-dimensional. We discussed a lot of this in our opening episode about Batman's worst enemy. Please check that out when you have time.

I like where this is going. I think it's changing the way we see Batman.

Mon: Well, I hope there's more character development because the action is definitely boring.

And the other title on my pull list is Nightwing. Nightwing is back to being Dick Grayson. Yes, after 20 issues of being Ric Grayson, he now has his memory back and his family back and he’s snatched the Nightwing mantle away from Detective Alphonse Sapienza. He's abandoned the rest of the Nightwings.

Honestly that was wrapped up in one page, which is a bit disappointing. I really like those characters. I'm glad Dick Grayson is back to being himself because as much as the Ric storyline had potential, they never really went anywhere with it. I'm happy that Bea is sticking around because she seems to be a good influence on him. Nice down to earth character. Will she be more than a love interest? Probably not.

But I am really looking forward to reading these stories again. What are your thoughts on Dick being back?

Ron: Definitely, definitely relieved at the return of Dick Grayson. The Ric Grayson idea worked for maybe two issues. And after that it fell off the wagon. I liked the other Nightwings. I liked how Ric worked with them. I'm really disappointed that they've been discarded so quickly. And I'm really hoping that they actually do come back some way and work with Nightwing, because those are really good characters. We got a lot of backstory from them. And they were working to save the city of Blüdhaven. So I don't feel like they should be left behind like this.

Aside from that, I do really like Bea. There were a few too many moments in the last few issues where they tried to pit Bea against Barbara. I mean, really? Really, in 2020?

What I would really like to see now is how does Bea fit into the Bat-family. She knows everything about Dick Grayson. I want to see her interact with the rest of the family.

Mon: And the last comic book title on my list is Red Hood: Outlaw. I'm actually speechless when it comes to Red Hood. Ron here is the one who introduced me to Jason Todd/ Red Hood. I knew about the character; read about the character. I wasn't interested in reading him that much. But then, you know, somebody here is a fan. But the last few issues have been awful. This final volume before the changing of the guard have been honestly atrocious.

I have wanted to hit Jason in the face… tear up my comic book. Because the art is awful. The characterizations are awful. I'm just not going to go into what happened. It's definitely gone off the deep end. I'm really hoping he gets back to being a readable, relatable character. From issue #51 there's a new team taking it over, so here's hoping.

Ron: I have to agree about Red Hood. I love this character. I have no idea why? Because his solo runs, his team books, they're not good. There are moments of characterization that made me want to read more about Jason and his problems. But overall, his story is so repetitive and so bland.

This last arc has been unmemorable. I don't know what they're doing with it. I don't know where they're going with it. And Jason has not changed in any way.

Mon: I feel like with Jason, he's always stuck in place. And I'm hoping that the new creative team can actually flesh him out more.

Ron: Yeah, it's about time.

So, moving on to what I've been busy with. I have been listening to the 12 Monkeys podcast called, Word of the Witnesses. It's a podcast hosted by two ladies; huge fans of the show. And their very many friends who have all been brought in to the wonderful world of 12 Monkeys. Now, we are talking about the TV show created by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. We are not talking about the movie.

However, the show was based on the film. The first season follows the storyline of the film fairly closely. But from the second season onwards, it moves away from that. And it grows.

Mon, you and I started watching the show when it first came out in 2015. We were hooked. We love time travel, so this was definitely up our alley. But the second season was amazing. And then there was a huge break because our lives completely changed. So, we couldn't get to seasons three and four till this year. I managed to watch those two seasons just before the pandemic hit. And then once the pandemic did happen, it was a bit difficult to watch a show about a pandemic. But I’ve been trying to get back into the show again, and I just re-watched the whole thing.

And I still wanted more of the show, so I found this podcast. It's been really enjoyable listening to it. I went through all 53 episodes within a month; no regrets.

I really enjoyed how the hosts went into the mythos of the show. They made so many connections between the various time travel concepts in the show. They found all these Easter eggs that I probably would have missed had I not been re-watching it. And they made connections that I really hadn't even seen before.

But what I also enjoyed was all the theorizing about what certain elements in the show meant. They managed to bring on Terry Matalas and a couple of the writers on the show for interviews. And at one point they did mention that the hosts had found connections that even they hadn't thought of.

It was an enjoyable podcast listen to; it was very engaging. I found that, during the pandemic, I really need to hear conversations. So, for me listening to a podcast where it's a whole bunch of people just talking to each other has been really, really calming. And it's a show that I love, and a bunch of people talking about it with as much love for it as I have, so I've really enjoyed listening to it.

Mon: Well, I haven't heard the podcast myself, but we re-watched the final season of 12 Monkeys together and I felt that you were able to make a lot more connections, A) because you re-watched the entire show just prior to me watching the final season. But also because you'd been listening to the Word of the Witnesses, who gave you all the tidbits and Easter Eggs which would then enhance our watching experience.

I really like how nowadays fans can create content about properties that they really, really love. And it really augments the viewers’ experience.

Ron: Yes, the way that they the way that they spoke about the show. And there were times when during the episodes, they would actually get super emotional because they were so invested in the characters and invested in their journeys. And you could see how much thought had gone into making every part of this show meaningful. And then when they brought on the creators who were also talking about it, you could feel that palpable sense of love for this product, which was often very difficult to create because of budgetary issues. You could just feel it, and it makes you love this show even more.

Mon: Yes, 12 Monkeys was definitely a show that went under the radar for a lot of people. So I'm glad that there's a podcast which is getting the word out there.

So as we talk about things we’ve been listening to, one of our favorite things is audiobooks. And I recently got my hands on a slightly weird one, for me anyway. This is an audiobook of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. I heard about this book on NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour. It's another podcast. So I finally requested it from our library.

The story is about plus-size fashion blogger, Bea, and she joins this show which is the equivalent of The Bachelorette, it's called Main Squeeze. She's basically the main squeeze and there are all these 20-odd gentlemen are vying for her affections.

Now, because she's a plus-size person, especially a plus-size woman, she faces situations and comments which the regular Main Squeeze participants won't have faced. And I found that very interesting. We are not used to seeing that many plus-size characters, especially plus-size women, leading romantic or genre properties. And while romance novels and romance stories are really not something that I enjoy, I found that some of the themes—the fatphobic themes—that she faces, they were very relevant and echoed reality. It's actually a tough book to sometimes get through. It's not always happy.

I mean, it's a romance novel, so we can assume that there is going to be a happy ending, we don't know. Because it doesn't seem like it for the longest time. And I'm still in two minds about the ending. Some people may like it, some people may have wanted something different for her. But yeah, give it a shot. If you are looking for something with a different kind of character as a protagonist.

Ron: I’m intrigued. What made you want to read this book? Because a romance story is not up your alley, even if it does have a plus-size character as the lead.

Mon: I think I was just looking for something which may echo a reality which doesn't get represented enough in pop culture. And especially when it comes to plus-size characters, they're usually, you know, sidekicks or completely invisible. So, I really want to see how they approached this topic. I wouldn't say they got everything right. But, the best thing about NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour is that when they recommend something in their ‘What’s Making Me Happy This Week’ section, you are taken in by the enthusiasm of the person pitching this particular product. So that's why I thought, ‘okay, let me give this a shot’. I do think that this is a refreshingly new approach. And it touched on the fact that reality TV at the end of the day is still curated reality. And it's something that you and I have talked about.

Ron: Speaking of audiobooks, I have just been listening to Queen’s Peril by EK Johnston. This is a follow up to Johnston's first book about Padmé Naberrie—aka Queen Amidala, later on, Senator Amidala—Queen’s Shadow.

I love this book so much. I enjoyed Queen’s Shadow a lot. Spending time with Padmé is always amazing. As much as we love the prequels, and yes, we do love the prequels—fight us—Padmé didn’t really get a great ending. So, any stories that give us more of Padmé’s political life, we are definitely up for it.

This book follows Padmé in her early days of becoming Queen of Naboo. She's very young. She's got all these new ideas of how she wants to run the world. And we also get to know a lot about her handmaidens. What I love is that there is some queer content which always makes me happy. I did not expect that, especially in a Star Wars book. But it was so good.

Padmé is a girl. She's a teenager. She's also a queen. She is so smart. She is so witty, she is just amazing. And what I also love about this book is that it ties into The Phantom Menace. But it gives us a whole new perspective. Because you know what's happening and you've got that context, so that enriches the entire experience. I just loved every single moment of this book.

Mon: Yeah, I remember haranguing you to get this book because I loved it so, so much. With Queen’s Shadow, I felt like the author EK Johnston was perhaps a little bit more restrained; it was her first foray into the huge Star Wars universe. I can imagine that there were quite a few studio hands involved. But here in Queen’s Peril, my goodness, it's fluid writing. She knows these characters and she really wants to build up the world that they live in. Every character that we meet has their own arc, they’re fleshed out; you understand their motivations. It's just brilliant to read. And reading about how Padmé and Captain Panaka create her band of bodyguards was so much fun. Each one has their own talents, their abilities, they know their weaknesses, but more than anything, the emphasis put on the sacrifice that they make, I really loved reading about that.

Because these side characters, you know, you can’t just forget about them. ‘Ah, she died because she was a decoy for Queen Amidala’. No, it means a lot to Amidala who these people are. I had so much fun being back in this world from this perspective.

And what I also found funny is that they're still a gaggle of teen girls. They're going to get up to stuff; they're going to be naughty. There’s so much personality given to Padmé and the rest. I really hope that EK Johnston is able to write some more. Let's get back in there with Padmé and the girls.

Ron: Absolutely. She so brilliantly captures this connection that Padmé has with her handmaidens. And you know what I really loved about this, which is also one of the reasons why I loved Queen’s Shadow—I love the politics.

I know a lot of people found the politics in the prequels very difficult to understand. It wasn't very difficult. You just need to have a brain.

Mon: I will never understand people's argument against the politics in the prequels. He was literally echoing what was happening in the news.

Ron: Exactly. So I loved Queen’s Shadow because of that. We get so much insight into how the Senate works, why there’s so much infighting and why certain things just don't get done. And we get to see more of that here. We also get a few hints about how Palpatine gets to rise. And you understand how Padmé has to think on her feet. Because there are so many things that are out of her control, but she needs to keep the peace. So yes, this was such an enjoyable read. I cannot wait for the third part of this trilogy.

Mon: And now on to one of my guilty pleasures. I absolutely and utterly love watching baking shows, cake shows. Anything to do with food, and usually desserts. So, on the Food Network channels, every season, they pretty much have a whole host of themed cooking shows. Since it's the winter and there's so many holidays coming up, we have the Holiday Baking Championship and we have Holiday Wars, which are both different kinds of baking shows.

This year, the formats have changed quite a bit from the previous ones, especially for Holiday Wars. I find it a little less compelling. I feel like it's a little all over the place. I don't know why.

Holiday Baking Championship have a giant table where everybody has to sit at an awkward angle to talk to the contestant. I just keep watching them with their sprained necks and worry about that instead of enjoying the food. But I did notice that the cast of participants looks a lot more diverse than usual. So that's been a long time coming and I hope it is a mainstay.

Aside from that I've caught one episode of Buddy vs. Christmas. Buddy is the Cake Boss in America. And he used to have this competition with fellow cake competitor Duff. But this year, it seems like he is competing on a weekly basis against different cake makers.

The format seems to be that every week they have a theme related to Christmas and they make competing giant displays. I mean, the displays are huge and works of art; works of architectural brilliance and technological brilliance. I do hope that they eat it, but I doubt it. But I have enjoyed seeing what comes out of it.

And ,I hear that we’re in for a new season of Sugar Rush on Netflix, which is so much fun. We really enjoyed the previous season and it seems like they've been trying to get more celebrity guests so let's see who they have this year.

Ron: Yes, nothing like sitting back on a weekend and just watching a baking show. And then we feel like we’re experts on why somebody’s got soggy cake and why somebody else's cake collapsed. Yeah, that's definitely fun.

Speaking of watching things, I have just marathon-watched Julie and the Phantoms. Okay, I thought I was gonna watch a movie. And I decided on Julie and the Phantoms because I've been hearing so much about it. But it turns out that this is actually a TV show. And in 10 episodes the first season wrapped. I really enjoyed this show. It was so much fun.

Mon: Okay, you have to tell me what this show is about. I’ve not heard of it.

Ron: Julie and the Phantoms is about this young girl Julie, played by Madison Reyes, in her very first role. Wow. And she's lost her mother. It's been a year and she's still struggling. One of the things that brought her and her mother together was their love of music. She used to play the piano and she used to sing and now she can't do that because it just reminds her of her mom. So at a crucial moment when she is losing her spot in her music class, three ghosts turn up.

Mon: What?

Ron: These three ghosts died in 1995. And they used to be a band. It actually opens with them. So I'm looking at the screen, looking at 1995 and thinking, ‘oh, that's five years ago’. No, no, it was 25 years ago! It was 25 years ago… Feel old yet?

So, 25 years later, these three members of this band land up in Julie's mother's studio. And they rekindle her love for music and bring her closer to her mom's memory.

At the same time, the three ghosts need to figure out what their unfinished business is because why else are they here? There's a lot of music, there's a lot of singing, there's a lot of dancing; there are so many sweet moments. There are some really, really heartbreaking moments as well. Because the three boys, they died when they were 17. So they've left family behind. And they need to come to terms with that as well.

Of course, Julie and her loss is palpable in every moment that she plays a song. But for the most part, it's quite light, it's quite jovial. There are some laugh out loud moments that I really enjoyed. It's a really, really sweet TV show.

And I really am hoping that there's going to be a second season, because it ends on a cliff-hanger. There's plenty of room for them to grow.

I also love the fact that there are some queer characters in this show. It's not overstated, it's there, it's quite obvious. But it's really sweet. Because two of the band members, they realize that their fellow band member has fallen for a ghost. And they're just like, ‘oh, you have a crush on this ghost friend, that's why you're late for practice’. That's it, even though they're from 1995. So, I was like, oh, that's a relief. So yeah, it was really sweet.

One of the things that I found quite interesting, which I have been noticing in content for young people, is that, when we were growing up, content that was made for us which featured straight couples, generally the boy would not dance. It was this weird thing that would always bother me. You'd have the girl who was always, you know, happily dancing. But the boys? Oh, no, no, they don't do that. But you don't see that now that much. Especially not in this show. Everybody was dancing quite happily. Gay, straight, whatever. So that was really fun!

I love that Julie is a young girl of color, which is still a rarity in pop culture nowadays. Madison Reyes is a really good singer. She has an amazing voice. She dances very well. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this child.

Mon: Well, you’ve always been a fan of musicals. I'm so happy that they keep making these good ones nowadays.

Ron: It was so much fun. And the second season could possibly expand on the mythos that you've already learned in this season. But it was great. It was light. We need something light right now. And that's exactly what we needed.

Mon: Okay, so now on to our weekly favorites. I've been recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 at Show Snob. This has got to be my favorite season, so far. It is so exciting; so fun. It starts off with Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, she lands in the future and she's all alone. The rest of the crew haven't arrived. When she's reunited with her crew, how does everyone deal with being in the new future? What does the future look like? What's their new mission? Is there a mission? It's been incredible.

I think the creators feel like they’ve finally been able to shed the constraints of being a prequel to the original Star Trek show. Now they can just do whatever they want, create as many different worlds and characters that they want. It's been fun. It's really been exciting. I love the Easter eggs and throwbacks, there are so many of them! We've watched seven episodes so far, which is kind of partway through, and I think they've found their feet.

One thing I'd say about this season is that it's been a little bit more chaotic. I feel like they have a lot of loose threads which are only now trying to get streamlined. There’s also been a lot of characters introduced, we see them for an episode or a few scenes, then they disappear. So it's a little bit bittersweet. I'm hoping for it to get better and better.

Ron: Yes, the cast of Discovery has increased a great deal in this season. And I do like the additions of Adira, Gray, and Book. They're great. They're fun.

But the crew of Discovery itself, we get to see a bit more of them from time to time, which is also quite nice because we've seen them in the background. Especially the Bridge crew; they're always there, a lot of them are Canadians, so, we’ve got our eye on them. But, now we're actually getting to know a little bit more about their personalities and how they work.

Of course, it's all against the background of them being completely displaced from everything that they know and love. So that does change the dynamic between the characters, and also how they feel about their new existence.

I love Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, I've loved her since the first episode. She is so great. I feel like I meet a friend every week when I see her. I'm so fascinated by her direction. She's somebody who was introduced to us in the very first episode as a logical Vulcan who believed so strongly in the Starfleet way of life. And then it all changed because she may have been brought up as a Vulcan, but she was still human. And the moment she got an opportunity to make a difference and get revenge, basically, for the death of her parents, she took that chance, and it changed the way the Federation worked.

Every season, she’s been a fish out to water, trying to fit in. By the end of the second season, she found her home with Discovery, and once again she's been displaced from them. She's still looking for another way to connect with these people whom she does love, but there's a rift between them. And it's not her fault and it's not their fault. But it's just the circumstances that Michael always finds herself in. She's just a great compelling character. I think, after B'Elanna Torres, Michael Burnham would probably be my second favorite; she's just amazing.

Mon: One of the bolder moves by the creators in this season has been changing up the Federation. We're not going to go too much into that—no spoilers here. But I have to say that it makes for a compelling story.

We are so used to Star Trek properties really coasting on the idea of utopia. But there's more to it. There's more to the world and I think that, in 2020, when we are faced with the realities of what people are really like. I'm not entirely sure a beatific view of the future is practical. But let's hope that Discovery finds some kind of utopia eventually.

Ron: Yes, because Star Trek has always been about hope, and Discovery has often struggled with that kind of hope. The first season was all about war. The second season was a little bit more hopeful. This season, it's there but they’re struggling to find it.

They're in a position now to actually bring in some kind of hope. We're seeing that from time to time in the episodes that we've seen so far. But, it's a very different kind of Star Trek from previous iterations. I would say that it's quite dark from time to time.

Mon: It's dark but it's not melancholic, and there is an underlying theme of hope and positivity and optimism, which I assume, by the end of the season, will come to fruition.

Ron: Absolutely. And another show that we've been watching on the regs is The Mandalorian Season 2.

The first season had its ups and downs. There were some really good episodes; there were some poor episodes. We found the first episode to be a little bit turgid. The second season has been far more accomplished.

From the first episode of the second season onwards the editing has been much tighter, the storylines have been more engaging. Even for the episodes that were a bit slower in terms of plot there was still enough there to keep you interested in what was happening.

I think one of the things that people will definitely love about this season is how it's connected to the rest of the Star Wars universe, not just the films, but also the animated shows, as well as the books, maybe even the video games, we don't know yet. There has been some speculation but nothing has been nothing has yet been confirmed. So stay tuned on that.

We've been enjoying it. Baby Yoda has had some moments. He does seem to be doing things that aren't always very good. I don't know how I feel about him; he's adorable. He's adorable. But some of the things that he does… his actions are a bit questionable at times, even though he is Baby Yoda.

Mando himself hasn't really seen much growth this season. I felt like in the first season, you know, he started off as a bounty hunter. He found Baby Yoda and then it changed how he felt about his job and his mission. He no longer just wanted Beskar for the heck of it. He had a person to protect, and it changed his way of life.

This season, as fun as it is to watch him and Baby Yoda go from planet to planet, and from more ridiculous circumstances to others. Mando himself really hasn't changed much from the start of this season. So, I feel like the last few episodes will have some work wrapping that up.

Mon: I know that Mando has really stagnated in his characterization, but it's been such an adventure. Each episode has been an adventure on a new planet. And it's shown how Mando and the Child have connected more. It’s expanded the universe of the live-action show, and I’ve enjoyed that much more than if we were forced to watch Mando grow in some contrived or inauthentic fashion.

Honestly, this feels like a Star Wars show mainly because you never know what you’ll spot or who you’ll spot from other properties. So I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't mind that he's like, ‘I'm on a quest; I’m on a quest, I'm on a quest’. Literally his only refrain for the first three episodes—he's moved on from saying that, at least.

Because as a character, he's so cool. Like, even when you watched Jango Fett and Boba Fett. These helmeted creatures, you don't really care about who they are as people. They just looked so cool. And a lot of the characterization, their arcs, their motivations, they come through despite that, it comes through in their actions. I really liked how they've brought in different aspects of the universe.

I kind of wish they wouldn't tell us in advance. Like, stop promoting and sending us news. Let us be surprised from time to time. And that was what used to be the mainstay of any Star Wars property. I don't know why, ever since Disney's taken over, they just tell us everything. No, we need to be surprised as fans. Ah, anyway. But the show, the cinematography is outstanding. It really feels like Star Wars and some of the direction… it's like, nothing has changed in the best way possible.

Ron: Shut out to Bryce Dallas Howard, and Carl Weathers; their episodes were just so good. So good.

Those were Star Wars episodes. It felt like we'd never left this universe from 1977. It was just such an enjoyable experience. You could see that these directors had grown up with these properties, they love these properties so much that their vision was what a fan would make. It was so much fun.

But for me, Mando’s lack of growth wasn't really bothering me that much until ‘Chapter 13’, where I was like, ‘what's he gonna do after this?’. Like, there needs to be more to this character. I think he's working as an audience stand-in a bit too much this season. Whereas in season one, you couldn't help but question some of his motives and everything that he did you were always on tenterhooks about what his next action was.

I like that he’s firmly a good guy now. But he's dangerously close to becoming a boring, good guy.

Mon: Well, I hope that's not the case and that Mando does get some growth. I'd like to see where his relationship with the Child eventually goes. There's only so much you can do with a little green puppet.

Ron: Baby Yoda is so cute that literally everybody is just gonna watch the show because it's the Baby Yoda show. He's really adorable as I said. But there are some moments where I feel like Mando now needs to start parenting. You can't just have Baby Yoda around, you need to do something about it because there have been moments where you're like, ‘Mando, watch your son!’

I guess that's the kind of growth that I do want to see. And I feel like that may happen in the next few episodes because all this while, he was on a very specific quest, and all the episodes that we’ve seen so far… Him having to planet hop was basically because he needed to finish this quest and there was something always waylaying him.

But, it's been great watching these characters from the Expanded Universe turn up, they fit in beautifully. I have to say a special shout out to Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth. I have no idea why, but this guy was amazing. I have seen Timothy Olyphant in other stuff but, oh my god, he was really good. I really enjoyed watching him.

And all the special guests who've been turning up have been doing a great job.

Despite our enjoyment of the show, there have been some controversies around the actors in the show. So, do be aware of that when you're watching it. It does tend to suck out some of the joy in watching this season because it has been really good. These characters are amazing. But pop culture doesn't exist in a vacuum, and we need to recognize that.

Having said that, as fans of the franchise, The Mandalorian Season 2 is doing the work to not only engage with us, but to entice new fans who may just be watching this show or may have just come in through the sequel trilogy to watch and read more of this Expanded Universe.

I've really enjoyed the episodic nature of this season, probably more than the previous season. One of the difficulties that sequels have is that they want to be bigger and better. This season seems to have gone in the other direction, and it works.

Mon: Yeah, despite introducing more characters. They have limited arcs, relevant arcs, and they drive the plot forward, and that's what's important. At the end of the day it's a great fan experience and what more could we ask for?

Ron: Tell us what you've been watching and share any recommendations that you may have.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]

Ron: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Mon.

#star trek: discovery #the mandalorian #star wars #padme amidala #julie and the phantoms #holiday baking #food network #batman #nightwing #red hood #12 Monkeys

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lynseymoon · 6 years ago

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my videoranch experience

ok, hi. hello. so, now that holiday “excitement” has died down, and tumblr’s new bs nipplegate has caused a mass exodus of users, i feel like it’s an appropriate time for me to talk about this.

for those of you who aren’t aware; hi, it’s me, lynsey moon. in case you don’t feel like reading a big long mess, i will preface this by saying that this is going to be about my videoranch experience. if that’s something you don’t really care about, feel free to skip on by. ok, on we go--

so, as a lot of you have probably heard, i was fired very unceremoniously from videoranch this past september, after working there for 10 years. up until now, i haven’t really felt like i had a safe platform to vent this information on. i think i was still holding onto a little thread of hope that maybe things would go back to the way they were. unfortunately, that hope has passed, but on the bright side, i’m feeling a whole lot better about the situation. i am going to do my best to tell my complete story, while remaining as impartial as possible. there are other stories that connect to mine, but i don’t feel it is my place to speak for those people, so i am not really going to discuss anything other than my own experience. anyway, let’s get into the details--

context/backstory:

before my firing, i had worked for videoranch as their social media manager for maybe about 7 years, and had been a dj in vr3d for about 10. without getting into the long ass story of how, i was hand selected by nez. we became pretty friendly, and would exchange emails and chat on skype fairly often. even when there were long stretches where we didn’t talk, he would still occasionally shoot me a one-liner or two. after i had been djing regularly for a few years, his wife vic announced she was leaving. she was the one who pretty much kept vr running (the woman behind the curtain, so to speak), and she asked if i would take over running the vr fb page, which was virtually unused at the time. i agreed, and started making regular posts about the music, and events in vr3d. some years later, i set up the tumblr, twitter, and (more recently,) the instagram accounts for vr. i enjoyed the work i did. i really liked interacting with the fans, and getting them excited about nez news/vr happenings. over the years, i single-handedly grew their online audience to be in the thousands. so all those social media pages for vr you see, with the exception of the youtube page? yeah; those were all me.

new employee #1:

maybe 2-3 years ago, nez’s assistant tells me that they’re temporarily hiring this well-known person in the monkees community, to help promote a t-shirt sale. we were told that this person would just be on board for the sale, and then they’d be departing. nez’s assistant asks me to give them social media privileges. keep in mind, i have been the ONLY person posting on our pages up to this point. so, of course, i give this person privileges, so they can post about the sale. the sale ends, and nez’s assistant tells me that this person is going to stay on as sort of a “sales” person, to help them move some merchandise. this person keeps their page privileges, and is told to only post things related to sales, which they do, but they also post all kinds of other trivia and photos, which is essentially what i am also doing. already, things are starting to feel a bit crowded, but i go along with things and try to be amiable, because i like my job and i don’t want there to be any animosity.

new employee #2:

about a year ago, we are told that nez’s assistant (of many, MANY years) is leaving, and that a new person is taking their place. this person had previously been in charge of the (now defunct) “vr forums”, where fans were free to discuss nez’s work. i am not going to get into this person’s reputation among the fans, because that is a whole other situation that would take way too long to get into. suffice it to say, this person is well-known.

this person immediately takes the reins from nez’s previous assistant, and sends us information on what kind of posts they’d like to see on social media. they set up an official vr youtube page. they instruct me to post one photo and one video per day. i suggest that posting that often might lead to oversaturation, and therefore not get us as much visibility through the fb algorithm. i also point out that there are only so many videos/photos available online, and i will probably run out and have to start reposting things before too long. they insist. i comply. one video and one photo per day. i start scheduling posts per their request, to meet these quotas. they also instruct me to use the tumblr page more. i try to explain that tumblr is largely a younger audience, and the posts there don’t get much traction. they insist. i comply. they also ask that i give them fb privileges, so that they can begin posting things, in addition to my posts, and the posts by new employee #1. they ask that i stop asking questions in my posts. i try to say that questions engage the fans. they disagree. i stop asking questions. our pages start to become oversaturated with multiple posts by multiple people, and i try not to make much of a fuss, because again; i like my job, and i do not want to make waves.

at this point, with the amount of posts going out on a daily basis, i quietly reduce my posts to 3-4 times a week. i try to alternate between photos and videos, to keep things from going stale. i am hoping that the new assistant does not notice, because it seems to be helping our posts get more engagements. they notice, and instruct me to again; post one photo and video a day. i try to continue with these posts as requested, and soon begin running out of photos. i ask for help in finding more, as i know this person is a known nez expert, and must have plenty. they tell me that this is my job, and i should be the one researching these things. bear in mind, before this person came along, my job was to post about the events in vr3d, and occasionally throw up a nez photo or fun fact. not to be a historian. i didn’t bother trying to explain this to the new assistant because again; i. liked. my. job. i tried to do my best to comply, just to keep things running as smoothly as possible.

the firing:

early september 9th, i was sitting around, thinking of a post to make. as i pick up my phone, i see an email saying i’ve been removed as an admin on the fb page. immediately, i start freaking out, and fearing for the worst. if you remember, at this point, nez was on tour with the fnb, and currently in texas. frantically, i text nez’s other assistant (who mostly just deals with nez himself, and does not work with the social media side of things). i tell her what happened, and she is confused. she assumes (like me), that it had to be a mistake, and says she will check with nez and the other people in texas to see what they know. in the meantime, i message new employee #1, to see if they know anything. as i suspected, they do not, and are just as confused as i am. i start trying to convince myself that maybe it WAS just a simple mistake, but deep down i feel that it isn’t.

nez’s other assistant (i’ll just say noa) gets back to me, and says that everyone is in the dark about this. they ask me if i’ve emailed new employee #2 about it, and i confess i haven’t. i have been avoiding it, hoping i could get things corrected before having to talk to the one person i feel is responsible for this. in between all of this, i am attempting to log into all the other social media accounts, only to find that they have all had their passwords changed. instagram locks me out, because there has been an attempt to log in from texas. i am panicking, but try to appear calm as i compose an email to the assistant. i state simply that it looks like the passwords have all been changed, and inquire if maybe we’d been hacked.

a dreadfully long hour later, i receive my reply. i have it saved, but i still hate having to re-read it. the first line was the only thing close to an explanation i received:

"The operations of our company require us to remove your position as a social media content creator. You are welcome to continue DJing in VR3D, but we can no longer pay you for these sessions."

that is a direct quote, by the way. the email went on to say that the comped tickets i had already secured through noa were now null and void, and if i wanted to attend the show, i would have to pay my own way. reader, i was absolutely gutted. i was devastated. i sobbed-- SOBBED-- for an hour. i was full of confusion, loss, and hurt feelings. the lack of explanation was what killed it for me the most. that, and the fact that i was being fired by someone who had been there for a tenth of the time that i had. i was being indirectly let go by someone who i once considered my friend. i started to wonder if he even knew what had transpired, or how. also within the email was a complaint about a post i had made, about the anniversary of the newspaper ad for the monkees. i was told it was “inappropriate” to be posting monkees-related things while nez was on a fnb tour. mind you, i don’t think it was that act that got me fired, but i wasn’t even made aware that this was a problem until after the fact. it was like i was supposed to already know this, and i obviously did not.

aftermath:

i was an absolute wreck about this for about a month. i kept going over the events in my mind, trying to make sense of it all. the offer to continue djing felt like a cold slap in my face; as though i would take joy in continuing to share music in a place that i was no longer welcome in. it felt like being broken up with. after it was confirmed, noa sent me a text that just said “i’m so sorry”. even nez’s former assistant, who had always been very kind to me, called and left me a very sweet voicemail wishing me well, and expressing her disappointment in what happened. other friends of mine in the band also expressed their shock and sadness to me. even new employee #1 claimed to be surprised, though i am now second-guessing that, as that person remains to be on the staff, while i am not. it seemed like everybody wanted me to stay, except for this new assistant. it also seemed like nobody even knew why i was fired. maybe even the assistant didn’t know, and they just wanted me gone, and had the means to make it happen. the whole thing was one big drawn out gut punch.

i agonized for a long time about whether or not i wanted to go to the show. eventually, i found a friend of a friend with two tickets, and i took that as kismet, and decided to attend. i told myself it would be my last one. before the show, i got to meet up with circe and christian, and without going into too many details (for their sake), i felt a little better after talking to them. i also saw noa there, who gave me a very sweet card and wished me well. it felt somewhat cathartic to feel that i was appreciated by (almost) everyone. the show, of course, was impeccable, though it wasn’t as enjoyable as the other nez shows i’ve attended, but i expected that to be the case. afterwards, i hung around for a bit and chatted with friends. i saw noa leading nez over to the meet and greet, and i believe she guided him past us on purpose. he gave me a sad little wave and said “hello” before being rushed off. i convinced myself that i was never going to get any real closure for the whole situation, so i called that my closure, and left.

in conclusion:

based on the way things seem to be running now, and how they were when i left, i feel a little less sad about having to leave. again, i am going to try to remain as impartial as possible here, but it almost seemed like that chapter of my life was meant to close when it did. when it first happened, in addition to the pain i felt, i also felt incredibly anxious about the extra money i was going to lose from this. i had literally JUST moved into a new, more costly apartment just a week prior, and was distraught about how i was going to afford it. luckily, things have been working out, and i’ve been getting by just fine. initially, i had hoped that everything was just a big mistake, and that nez (or someone) was going to contact me and tell me to come back, but the more time passes, the more unconvinced of that i become. at this point, it’s in my best interest to just try to move on, and take pride in all the things i accomplished while i was at videoranch. it was a huge part of my life for so long, and now then suddenly it wasn’t, so of course it was a pretty big adjustment to make. slowly but surely, i am making peace with everything.

lastly, i have seen some rumors floating around that i want to dispel:

my firing was not a “financial decision”-- some people have been spreading this around, and it is simply not true. i got confirmation on this from c&c, noa, and others. nez has enough money to hire a private jet to shuttle him from show to show. he is not hurting for money.

this probably goes without saying after everything i’ve written, but i was fired. i did not leave voluntarily, nor did i have plans to. this decision was made entirely without me.

i was getting paid for the work i was doing, and was a contract worker for vr. i was not a volunteer.

i always tried to follow instructions and requests from my superiors to the best of my ability. even though i would sometimes question the reasoning behind things, i would always try my best to be polite and maintain a productive work environment. i never once refused to do anything that was asked of me.

so there you have it; now you finally know what really happened to lynsey moon. if you have any questions about this, feel free to drop me an ask, and i will try my best to answer. thanks for listening, especially if you made it this far. i appreciate all the support i’ve received. ❤

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cryptid-crusader · 6 years ago

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My Tumblr History (feat. a LOT of rambling, I apologize)

I’ve been on Tumblr 9 years. I came to Tumblr from Xanga (which IDK if that’s even still a thing or not) after being thoroughly obsessed with latter for about 4 or so years. Xanga was much more of a typical blog blog, and though I interacted with far less people on it, those few I did became honest to god friends that I still think about to this day. Though, as years past, my few friends began to drop off one by one from the site and I found myself enjoying it much less once they were gone. Eventually, I left too.

A few months later, I decided to join Tumblr. It was still a fairly new site in 2010 when I had joined, and I had only heard a few things here and there around the internet before I decided to check it out myself. When I first started, I used this site a lot like I used Xanga and basically had it exclusively as an internet journal to talk about life and nerdy shit and the like (I remember even thinking the reblog option was dumb because why not just make your own content? Why reblog other peoples stuff? loooool) and also did a lot of those writing daily challenges. Do you guys remember those? I loved them. Anyway...

Needless to say as time went on and I got older and followed more people and gained more followers (some of you have been here from very early on and for that I am incredibly thankful) as dweeby as this may sound, I really grew as a person. God, I remember 9 years ago I would sometimes post uncredited art or really insensitive, not funny at all, “jokes” because I honestly didn’t see a problem with them (and the only reason I really remember these awful things is occasionally once in a blue moon random people would find them in the bowels of my blog and like them and I would shudder and delete them). I kinda started Tumblr as this young social media doofus that, again as cheesy as it sounds, learned a lot and grew from my experience here. I would never dream of posting uncredited art now, and those “jokes” make me want to vomit. I learned a lot about social issues through this blog and it also helped me open up and learn about my sexuality. I got to see a broader world view from all different walks of life here (which was incredibly refreshing after growing up in a very close knit predominately white republican community) , and met some fantastic humans I’m blessed to have interacted with and become their friend. I never would have met them without this site!

Not to mention just like... all the cool shit. There are SO many talented people on Tumblr. So much beautiful art, fantastic writing, and just all round hilarious and interesting humans that I loved to get even a small peak into their lives and learn about them and what they like and do for fun. I’ve picked up hobbies through this site, joined fandoms through this site, made friends, laughed endlessly, become inspired, found some of my favorite anime/books/movies, and have had so much fun in these nine years on Tumblr.

... Not to say that it hasn’t been without it’s bad. I’ve been here long enough to remember when Tumblr users proudly boasted about how open and inviting to any and all people they were, how they would never point fingers, be mean, or turn others away. Boy, how that has changed looool. I’ve been through the annoying but innocent enough superwholocks and the scandals of older users who used to be Tumblr royalty that fucked up in some way and fell from grace, to the disgrace of people who are totally fine humans that didn’t completely cater to exactly what certain people wanted or made a few wrong steps that people felt like they had to attack them viciously for the littlest asinine shit. The good the bad and the ugly, all the way through to now.

Now. :(

To be frank, this entire site has been a disaster for a loooooooooong time with a staff that seems to be equal mix of not knowing at all how to run a functioning site and not giving a shit at all about it’s user base and their feelings (which reeeeeeeally sucks for all the fantastic content creators and people who have been here forever who have essentially made this site what it is). Little things like ‘oh we made an update that ‘everyone’ will love but is actually dumb as hell and just pisses people off’ to their have been porn bots, pedos, and nazis on this site for YEARS terrorizing people and being awful but guess that is just how it will be... Until they got banned from the app store and THEN it’s an issue (because they lost money ofc)!

Suddenly, Tumblr staff cares, but only for themselves. Instead of actually resolving the issue THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS AND IS AN EXTREMELY WELL KNOW AND COMPLAINED ABOUT ISSUE they just decide fuck it, punish everyone. No “porn” at all, but I use that term lightly because they say some nudity is allowed (don’t get me started on female presenting nipples it also makes me laugh to hard and then I won’t be able to type) and for some reason apparently written erotica is allowed (which makes absolutely zero sense if you are truly trying to make this a ‘family friendly’ site, why is visual porn not allowed but written OK?) but... Is it really? Posts that are completely innocent are getting tagged left and right as not suitable content. Like, thousands of posts are getting tagged by whatever stupid algorithm they are using that are completely void of anything remotely sexual and you expect me to believe your incompetent asses are going to go through them and deem which are OK and which aren’t based on you shoddy stupid ass new rules? Fuck that.

And all the sex workers and people and run side blogs and NSFW art blogs and the like are just completely screwed (no pun intended). It upsets me because like... Porn blogs have never been the issue. There are definitely some horrible ones, no denying that, but for the most part they just stayed in their lane and interacted with other porn blogs. They weren’t the issue (And, if Tumblr knew at all how to create a damn site, they wouldn’t have been an issue at all if the damn safe mode toggle actually worked like it was supposed to). The ungodly amount of bots is the fucking issue. I can tell you right now, I have over a thousand followers and I am in no way kidding when I say half of those are porn bots that I just gave up reporting because I get like, 3 of them following me a week on average. It’s ridiculous! Also, ACTUAL FUCKING CHILD PORN? THAT IS EASILY ACCESSIBLE EVEN WHEN NOT LOOKING UP ANYTHING NSFW (which I very unfortunately know through experience)? And to top it all off, fucking NAZIS who for some reason are still allowed to spew their bullshit on this site??? Is this a nightmare?

So with all this happening, I believe it’s pretty safe to say Tumblr’s days are numbered. It makes me laugh and cry, it’s something you could see coming a mile away and yet something that you didn’t think would actually happen. I don’t want to leave Tumblr. I love you guys (the users not the staff). You have all brought joy and enrichment to my life and I am so grateful I got to be here with you. I also just like a lot of nuances of tumblr, like the fact I can read an entry so powerful and moving it brings me to tears and then just one post underneath is an over baked nonsensical cat meme which has me wheezing for reasons I can’t quite explain. I can be anonymous and as weird as I want to here without having to really worry about family, coworkers, or older friends seeing it and being like WTF is wrong with you, what does all this mean??? I like how my blog looks and how I can bitch in the tags and chat with my friends and message people and talk about my oc’s and randoms interests and get pointers and learn new things and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I love Tumblr. I don’t want to leave and don’t necessarily plan to. But then again, I said they same thing about Xanga, and if Tumblr keeps going in the way it is going... I’m not sure I really truly want to be lumped in with that. :/

Now this has already been entirely too long (and honestly I’m kind of feeling how I did when I started this blog in 2010 lul) but lemme say this: Thanks guys, I had a whole lot of fun. And if I do end up leaving sometime in the maybe not to distant future know that I will always be lurking around somewhere on the internet, and I had the best time while I was here. I wish nothing but the best for all of you, and may we all be able to remain a happy and dysfunctional little group, if not here, somewhere much better.

#I want to reiterate that I don't want to leave #I just wanted to say my piece #just in case #I love you guys #and I love what Tumblr could be #if staff actually gave a shit #:(#rant #Tumblr #also I am not going to leave #unless I have to #I'll be here until the bitter end tbh #thank you for reading #bleh #flapping my wings

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biofunmy · 5 years ago

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All the streaming services, ranked

If you’re struggling with which streaming service suits your needs, here are the pros and cons of the biggest brands. USA TODAY

Welcome to the era of the Streaming Wars.

Hollywood is getting more crowded than ever as two new online streaming services, Apple TV+ and Disney+, join the digital fight for your eyeballs and money in November. And there’s still more to come: Next spring, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and Comcast’s Peacock join the mix.

With Netflix, Hulu and Amazon already dominating the streaming world, and smaller players like CBS All Access, Shudder and Acorn TV fighting for their place in the mix, the new TV landscape can be a daunting avalanche of choices, and subscribing to every new service can easily end up costing more than that cable bill you already cut.

But not all streaming services are created equal. Before you subscribe to the latest, consider our list of the major services, ranked from best to worst. We’ve included only services not available as a cable channel (sorry, HBO Now), and those streaming in 2019 (we’ll get back to HBO Max and Peacock later).

The Handmaid’s Tale was Hulu’s first breakout hit. (Photo: Hulu)

1. Hulu

Cost: $5.99/month with ads; $11.99/month commercial-free

Originals: A mix of award-winning high profile dramas (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Act”), tiny, quirky and acclaimed comedies (“PEN15,” “Shrill”) and occasional theatrical or streaming-only films (“Little Monsters,” “Fyre Fraud”).

Library: Includes currently airing TV shows on ABC, NBC and Fox (“The Masked Singer,” “Stumptown”) paired with archival series (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Designing Women,” “Seinfeld”) and films (“Boyz n the Hood”).

Kid-friendly? A robust kids’ section has mostly older shows (“Sailor Moon,” “Doug”) but a few originals like “The Bravest Knight.”

Hulu tops our list because it’s a broadly appealing service that offers plenty of genres and styles without scraping the bottom of the barrel for new content. The ability to watch current broadcast shows in-season is a huge advantage. And Hulu has the best selection of archival TV series with a solid showing of films, too. Its originals could be better, but the service has wisely chosen not to overload us with shoddy new programming, a mistake its biggest competitor, Netflix, has unfortunately made. Hulu’s value is likely to grow in the next few years, now that Disney effectively owns the service. Adult Marvel content will likely gravitate here, along with a trove of FX series.

Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, and Caleb McLaughlin in Stranger Things 3 . (Photo: Netflix.)

2. Netflix

Cost: $8.99/month to watch on one screen at once, $12.99/month to watch on two screens or $15.99/month to watch on four screens in Ultra HD.

Originals: Has the largest crop of originals, which means the biggest mix in quality as well. Notables include “Stranger Things,” “Queer Eye” and “The Crown,” in addition to Oscar-bait movies like Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”

Library: Shrinking every year. Although some stalwarts remain on the service (“Breaking Bad,” “Dexter,” “Supernatural”), Netflix is investing in originals, not in holding onto the rights for legacy series and films. (“Friends,” “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” are among those shifting elsewhere by 2021 for U.S. subscribers).

Kid-friendly? Netflix’s kids’ section is massive, populated mostly with dozens of originals (A “Boss Baby” series, an upcoming “Green Eggs and Ham” adaptation) and some library content (“Pokemon”).

Netflix may be synonymous with the idea of streaming content, but while it pioneered the format, it hasn’t perfected it. The service has a huge number of films and TV shows to choose from, but that library isn’t as good as it once was. Netflix’s biggest flaw is that it is abandoning its archival content in favor of an ever-more-mediocre slate of originals across all genres of TV and film. Some of these series are brilliant (“The Crown,” “BoJack Horseman”), others are decent (“Queer Eye”), but most are poor facsimiles of better TV (“Ozark,” “Fuller House”). The movies that premiere on the service without a theatrical run (and thus, aren’t vying for Oscars) have a distinct “TV movie” vibe. Still, Netflix is a really valuable service and the biggest name in the game, only slightly edged out by Hulu.

Pedro Pascal stars as the title character in the new Disney+ series, “The Mandalorian.” (Photo: Francois Duhamel, Lucasfilm Ltd.)

3. Disney+

Cost: $6.99/month or $69.99/year (available Nov. 12)

Originals: The first Star Wars live-action series (“The Mandalorian”), teen comedy “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” “Toy Story” spinoff “Forky Asks a Question” and a slew of nonfiction series. More Star Wars and Marvel series are promised over the next few years.

Library: The Disney Vault has opened, and classics (“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”) and duds (“The Shaggy D.A.”) alike will flood the service, along with recent blockbusters (“Avengers: Endgame”) from the studio. Some titles inherited from the merger with 20th Century Fox (“The Simpsons”) also are available.

Kid-friendly? Extremely. All content on the service is family friendly to some degree, to fit with the Disney brand.

The biggest threat to existing services comes from the biggest conglomerate in Hollywood. Disney is flexing its considerable muscle by offering its classic films paired with original series from its biggest brands: Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel. Its huge library is its biggest advantage, as is the ability to reboot and revive (“Lizzie McGuire,” here we come). But the biggest disadvantage is the lack of diversity in programming. Everything here will be very Disney in tone and style, and the service has no plans for mature programming and mindless reality TV, which has its time and place. If you have kids, the value of the service goes up exponentially, but for those of us not trying to entertain tykes, other streamers have more to choose from.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge takes a smoking break as the titular character in Amazon’s “Fleabag.” (Photo: STEVE SCHOFIELD/AMAZON)

4. Amazon Prime Video

Cost: $12.99/month, but comes with free two-day shipping

Originals: “Jack Ryan,” “Bosch,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and lots of small, awards-friendly fare, a lineup that’s changing rapidly as the company embraces genre shows like an upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series.

Library: A wide assortment that most notably includes Masterpiece dramas(“Downton Abbey”), mid-2000s procedurals (“The Closer,” “Bones”), USA Network shows (“Mr. Robot,” “Suits”) and some older HBO programming.

Kid-friendly? Yes, Amazon includes originals like “Kung Fu Panda” and Nickelodeon series like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Dora the Explorer.”

Amazon’s TV output is perfectly acceptable, especially if you like quaint British television and series your grandparents will enjoy. The streamer excels at comedies (Emmy-winning “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag”) and has an impressive selection of British TV (“Doctor Who,” “Broadchurch”). Its library of old series and originals is not as big as Hulu and Netflix, but it does have Oscar-nominated films (“The Big Sick” and “Manchester by the Sea”) acquired from festivals. Your money goes further, because it pays for two-day shipping with TV as a bonus, but it still offers a higher proportion of niche programming than its rivals. Unlike Netflix or Hulu, it can’t replace your cable subscription all on its own, but its lineup will expand to include a fashion series from Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum and an expensive “Rings” adaptation.

Sonequa Martin-Green returns as Michael Burnham for a third season of “Star Trek: Discovery.” (Photo: JOHN MEDLAND/CBS)

5. CBS All Access

Cost: $5.99/month with commercials, $9.99/month without

Originals: “Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Good Fight,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Why Women Kill”

Library: Current (and recent) CBS series, classics (“I Love Lucy”) and movies (“Rocky”).

Kid-friendly? Some library content like “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” but nothing for preschoolers and no originals.

Don’t knock the Eye’s streaming service until you’ve tried it. It’s a little on the expensive side for the number of originals, but its streaming shows have a better batting average when it comes to quality (“The Good Fight” is one of the best shows on TV). In addition to CBS shows, its library includes a treasure trove of classic films and TV, such as “Happy Days” and “The Brady Bunch.” However, it’s still limited in scope, so seeing some episodes of “Star Trek: Picard” a few times a year may not be worth the expense.

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon star in the new Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show.” (Photo: Apple)

6. Apple TV+

Cost: $4.99/month; free for one year with purchase of an Apple product (available Nov. 1)

Originals: “The Morning Show,” “See,” “For All Mankind,” “Dickinson,” “The Elephant Queen,” “Oprah’s Book Club,” and other new shows from M. Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg.

Library: None

Kid friendly? Nope

Despite its low price tag, Apple has a distinct disadvantage in value because it has no back library of classic shows or films. You could burn through their entire new catalog in a few weeks. And you wouldn’t get much from binge-watching the new series, which include “The Morning Show,” a mediocre soap starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. The best of the bunch is alternate history drama “For All Mankind,” from the creator of “Battlestar Galactica,” but is it worth the money to see just one maybe-good show? Probably not.

Three decades after “The Karate Kid,” Johnny (left, William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) face off again in “Cobra Kai.” (Photo: YOUTUBE RED)

Honorable mentions: AcornTV, Britbox, Shudder, YouTube and Facebook Watch

A few other, much smaller streaming services are vying for your wallet. AcornTV and BritBox are for serious Anglophiles (Acorn has more mysteries, Britbox has all of classic “Doctor Who”). Shudder is devoted to horror. Facebook Watch and YouTube are a mix of user-created and professional content. Facebook Watch has one good original series (“Sorry for Your Loss” starring Elisabeth Olsen); so does YouTube (“Karate Kid” sequel “Cobra Kai”). Facebook Watch is free if you have time for it, and YouTube also has a free tier, with ads.

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