#or rewatching the Planet of the Apes TV Series

[spockvarietyhour]

Now that I've finished Rome here's The State of Shows I'm watching, starting with currently airings:

For All Mankind Monarch: Legacy of Monsters With @kiranerys: Stargate SG-1 (S10) Stargate Atlantis (S03) both her first watches Fringe (S03) rewatch for both of us, but I'd missed/skipped some episodes originally. Due South (S01) her first watch but I haven't watched it since it originally aired. Foyle's War (S02) my first watch FlashForward her first watch Chernobyl also her first watch Star Trek Prodigy ditto Crusade (S01) her first watch Letterkenny (final season)

All of these alternate w whatever we feel like, random episodes of comfort shows whenever we have the time.

we are going to get back to Russian Doll, and we plan to do Poker Face, The Bear, and His Dark Materials soon-ish

Regularly watching: Stargate Universe (S01), rewatch, gets delayed whenever I end up with too much of a backlog on gifs. The Witcher (S03), I proooobably won't continue this once Henry Cavill leaves. Occasionally Watching: Robocop: The Series The Rockford Files (S05) Upcoming: Silo (S01) next up now that Rome's done Scavenger's Reign (S01) Vigil (S02) Castlevania Nocturne (S01)

I almost did Invasion or Falling Skies but I found better files for Falling Skies so Silo it is!

[strawberrylollipop26-blog-blog]

Movie/Show Round UP

I haven't done one of these in awhile. As always, my thoughts are short and to the point. I don't go in depth. I'm not a professional reviewer, just my thoughts.

Under the cut there are reviews for Fly Me to the Moon, Inside/Out 2, Despicable Me 4, A Quiet Place: Day One, Dune Part 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, The Fall Guy, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Civil War, Madame Web, Argylle, Abigail and The Bikeriders. TV shows: Legend of Fei and Halloween Baking Championship.

Fly Me to the Moon: I saw this movie during a three show day at the theater. It was the middle movie and the biggest question mark. Turns out, the whole 'did they or didn't they' land on the moon theory was actually interesting. While I have zero interest in a rewatch, definitely worth attempting for first time viewers.

Inside/Out 2: This movie was exactly the same as the first. There's nothing new here except for possibly children experiencing new emotions. As an adult, I was bored.

Despicable Me 4: Cute. This film added nothing.

A Quiet Place: Day One: I thought it was nicely done. Still, didn't knock my socks off like the first one. My spouse wanted to know exactly how people learned to be quiet. I tried to tell him that they showed it in the second movie. He wanted more of a show. He was also annoyed that we know nothing about the aliens and it's the third movie. Slight spoiler, I wish we didn't know something about a certain character because it would've made the ending decision so much more impactful.

Dune: Part 2: Well, he tried to warn them about what would happen. I like the action that happens even though it all folds into a pretty box.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: I barely remember this movie. It was sort of reminiscent of the previous one. A typical unite to defeat the super evil blah blah blah.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Disturbing T!k T0ks regarding the leads aside, this movie was enjoyable. Although, I had no idea a new movie series was starting. There were quite the few holes left so I'd see the second one.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die: I saw this before the previous one so I was quite confused in certain parts. All in all it was enjoyable. There are some funny moments. I've had the urge to watch again.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: I haven't seen this in awhile. From what I remember there's a side character hero in here that's pretty funny. Pretty textbook, you know what's going to happen before it does.

The Fall Guy: I've heard people talking about this one and disliking it. I thought the whole purpose was to have an outrageous fun movie showing crazy stunts the doubles do. Is it the best movie? No, but if you like action it's worth a watch.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: I'm an action girl. I highly valued the first Mad Max. This movie is obviously character based therefore slower to catch the stages of development (it's even told in chapters). I was bored. All the story shows in the normal character faced adversity, lived a hard life, finally goes for their revenge. Zero interest in a rewatch. I'll turn on the first one again.

Civil War: A weird movie full of numerous holes. A waste of my time.

Madame Web: I thought it was okay even though this movie was review bombed. There's nothing special about it, but it's not the worst movie that people complained about. Then again, to each their own.

Argylle: Another movie that was review bombed. I also guessed the likely story in this one. I think this movie suffers mostly from trying to be too many things. It goes for serious, yet wild and fun, yet logical. I think if the movie with the effects stayed 'out there' then people would've found it more enjoyable. Maybe.

Sidenote: My husband is always surprised that me (comedy hater) loves Rat Race and Joe Dirt. My response is always the same. Both movies are unapologetically insane. They don't take themselves seriously at all. I think Argylle should've done this as they had moments before deciding to become a serious spy movie.

The Bikeriders: First of all there's a narrator to this movie. Threw me off a bit at first, I normally don't watch those type of movies because i feel it leaves off clues. The movie's okay. Practically a drama in a bikerider setting. There isn't much mystery so another one that's easy to read.

Abigail: I enjoyed this movie until the ending. Not much I can say without spoiling.

Legend of Fei: I finally finished this show. Took me forever as it has good episodes, and others I cared less for (admittedly skipped scenes). Some characters were so annoying. Thankfully, Fei stopped passing out which was killing me. Xie Yun is my absolute fave. I might be biased, but all his scenes were so much fun except for the ones where he's sick :( . I've read reviews where people say they can watch this repeatedly, I'm not one of them. One and done. Sort of reminded me of WoH main storyline.

Sidenote: I love the one scene where he's reminiscing the past in his dreams and he no longer has money. The way this man kept opening up his pouch and dumping it over to make sure there were no coins. So relatable in my younger days.

Halloween Baking Championship: An era has come to an end or at least caught up in the seasons. I really like this cooking show. I hope people have some out of the box creations in the new year coming up.

[matsui-sinclair]

hello fellow ape-heads today i bring you a humble offering of all the episodes of the short-lived 1974 planet of the apes tv show all on a google drive for free :)

the series is about two astronauts, peter and alan, who accidentally travel forward in time to the 3080s (about 900ish years before the first movie) and befriend a friendly ape named galen (played by roddy mcdowall). the episodes follow the three of them as they travel across future california, running from the gorilla cop urko as he chases them down for upsetting the natural order of ape society.

all these episodes are already up on archive.org but i don't know about anyone else but that website is sooo slow for me so i just went and downloaded all the episodes. but then my laptop didn't have enough space so i moved them to a hard drive and it got tedious for me to reconnect it every time i wanted to rewatch an episode, so i just thought for ease of access i'd upload them to a google drive, and i figured other people would probably be interested in watching so here you go!!

i first heard about this show because the youtube channel ape nation is currently going through each of the episodes so if you want you can watch along with his weekly reviews!

i absolutely love this show so much and i never see anyone talk about it on here so hopefully this means people can watch it and i won't be alone in my appreciation for it anymore 😭😭

so go forth and enjoy the glory of the 1974 pota tv show!!

[c-schroed]

Now Is the Perfect Time to Watch Some Movies Set in 2024

Now that we've made it to the new year, why not enjoy some old visions of it? I at least love to start the first few weeks of a year by going through the films set in the new year, as listed marvellously by Wikipedia.

Because I'm interested in old visions of the now-present, I usually skip movies that were produced in the last ten years. Because these usually don't provide very bold predictions. This criterion leaves the following seven entries for a Get Ready for '24 watchlist:

Beyond the Time Barrier. A 1960 time travel flick. Never heard of it. A quick look at the plot reminds me of Return to the Planet of the Apes. Which I kinda liked for its batshit abstrusity. Anyway, the movie is short and exactly what I'm looking for. So I'll definitely try to somehow get my hands on it.

A Boy and His Dog. This 1975 movie likely is the most notorious of this list. Not sure how well the film has aged, but it has been loitering on my to do list for years now, so the stars are aligned as good as never before.

Highlander II: The Quickening. Very likely to be the worst movie of this list. Haven't seen it yet, I think (or I forgot it after watching). And I haven't heard anything good of it, but at least it tells a story related to climate change. Which is better than nothing, I guess.

The Thirteenth Floor. I absolutely l o v e the German TV movie "World on a Wire", and Thirteenth Floor is a remake of this. I watched it once, but before seeing World on a Wire. So although Thirteenth Floor has only on small bit of its plot actually taking place in 2024, I really look forward to a rewatch of this 1999 production.

.hack//The Movie. A 2011 CGI anime movie. Never heard of it, but why not.

Underworld: Awakening and Underworld: Blood Wars. I remember liking the first Underworld movie, and I don't recall much of the other four films. So I think I'll use the final two installments playing in 2024 as an excuse for a rewatch of the whole series.

Narcopolis. This is a 2015 movie, so my Older Than Ten Years rule technically disqualifies this entry. But I'm quite intrigued by the story of a UK that has all drugs legalized. So I'll give it a watch.

[matt-eldritch]

My family and I are currently rewatching Toy Story 2 and once the movie got to the part where Woody discovers that he was the star of a famous 1950s puppet show, I spent a lot of time wondering what happened to the series between the cancellation and the then-present time of the first two movies.

Was there ever an animated spinoff during the Dark Age of Animation? Hanna-Barbera, Filmation and DePatie-Freleng did make a lot of animated spin-offs of live action properties during those times (such as Gilligan's Isle, Tarzan, Batman '66 and Planet of the Apes) so it'd make a bit of sense if Woody's Roundup got similar treatment. Were there any attempts at making a big budget Hollywood movie in the 80s or 90s? The 90s were chock-full of adaptations of old TV shows from the 60s and 70s so again, it'd make sense if Woody's Roundup was optioned at one point. Maybe the movie never happened in that universe because it fell victim to Development Hell and some of the crew or cast jumped ship over to the 1995 Buzz Lightyear movie?

[youdonotcompare]

2024 Viewing & Gaming List

I decided I ought to keep track of what I watch (and play!!) this year... but as I've missed a lot it's a relatively short list (thus far, as of May). Still, I'll add more once I go through some of my files.

I'm using a 5-star rating. 5 stars means it's outstanding, 1 star means it left much to be desired. The very rare 0 stars mean it's absolute shit and I'm sorry I wasted my time with it.

TV:

The Lazarus Project, Season 1 - Finished - 4/5*

The Lazarus Project, Season 2 - Finished - 2/5*

Fallout, Season 1 - Finished - 3/5*

The Veil, Season 1 - Finished - 4/5*

Blue Bloods, Season 14 (currently airing)

Criminal Minds : Evolution, Season 2 (3/5*

Criminal Minds, Season 2 - Rewatched - 4/5*

Criminal Minds, Season 3 (currently rewatching)

Evil, Season 4 - Finished (3/5*)

The Shining Girls, Season 1 - Rewatched - 5/5*

The Jetty, Season 1 - Finished - 3/5*

The Devil's Hour, Season 1 - Finished - 3/5*

The Devil's Hour, Season 2 - Finished - 5/5*

Lioness : Special Ops, Season 1 - Finished - 4/5*

Lioness : Special Ops, Season 2 (currently airing)

Silo : Season 1 (currently rewatching)

Silo : Season 2 (currently airing)

Mini Series:

Movies:

Rebel Moon, Part 1 - Released 2023 - 3/5*

Rebel Moon, Part 2 - Released 2024 - 3/5*

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - Released 2024 - 5/5*

A Mistake - Released 2024 - 0/5*

Knowing - Released 2009 - 5/5*

Greenland - Released 2023 - 4/5*

The Sixth Sense - Released 1999 - 5/5*

Ghost Rider - Released 2007 - 2/5*

Current Games:

MMO - Once Human (4/5* as of November 2024)

MMO - Fallout 76 (3/5* as of November 2024)

House Flipper - Incomplete - (3/5* as of August 2024)

Cyberpunk 2077 - WIP - (3/5* as of November 2024)

[luwukass]

lukes favs! december 2023!

ignore that this is 4 days late

music (according to my spotify stats, in order of most to least streamed average top 10) songs: castles crumbling, all of the girls you´ve loved before, dear reader, cowboy like me, evermore, it´s time to go, hoax, say don´t go, you´re losing me and karma albums: evermore, 1989 (taylors version), folklore, speak now (taylors version), red (taylors version), midnights, lover, fearless (taylors version), reputation and debut artists: as i said last month bc i listen to a lot of taylor the other stats can be changed if i listen to the artist like twice so this month im only including the relevant ones. taylor swift, olivia rodrigo and troye sivan

media podcasts: podcasts were the same as last month and the one before!(please let me know if you have any podcast recs) if you need a reminder they were gals and goblins which is a dnd podcast im really enjoying and swiftlit made by tumblrs own @kingofmyborrowedheart the taylor swift podcast thats deep dives into taylors lyrics! shows: i watched more tv this month!! nex and i finally finished watching loki s2 and we are fully caught up on the boys! been watching a lot of dr who i was on vacation so im not super far into it yet but im loving it so far! i continued watching castlevania with my bf! and on my own ive been watching the disney+ percy jackson series which is so good so far and im finally getting back to watching bobs burgers! i also watch the scott pilgrim show with my gf. movies: okay i watched a LOT of movies this month so get ready. hereditary, the menu, the eras tour film (3 times already), all fo the planet of the apes movies, the mitchels vs the machines, home alone, home alone 2. rewatched the hunger games movies again and finally saw the prequel, la la land, ponyo, kikis delivery service and howls moving castle. comics: i didnt read any comics oops books: read a few chapters of percy jackson 2 and started rereading the hunger games books! games: i yet again played a bunch of minecraft, i also did some jackbox game nights with my polycule and i fixed lethal company !!! it works on my laptop now and it is SO much fun, i also played some powerwash sim and sticky business bc the dlc just came out! and i played a bunch of hades on my switch!!! as always lmk if yall have any suggestions for anything!! im really trying to branch out with stuff so dont be afraid to send an ask!

also if you started following me this month im trying to make this a monthly thing so here are my november favs!

[imsfire2]

Thoughts on “Rebels”

I’ve been having a “Star Wars Rebels” rewatch in recent weeks and have been struck all over again by what a terrific piece of work this series is.  With the exception of “Rogue One” I don’t think any of the other more recent SW canon content captures the look, tenor and all-round feel of the OT quite so perfectly.

OK, so it doesn’t exactly capture the look, because it’s animation rather than live-action-plus-SFX; the difference of medium inevitably makes for visual differences. But it has the same quality of jumping from domestic-level scenes to scenes on a huge scale. 

Glorious stars and planets and the vast expanse of deep space are drawn and lit superbly, and alien worlds evoked and made real.  And within the limitations of a cartoon it manages to make these worlds look lived-in and grubby; the rough freshness of Sabine’s graffiti art, the muddled bedding in Ezra’s bunk, the dents and scoring on spacecraft hulls and Chopper’s chassis, the scratches and worn paint on Kanan’s mask.  And not forgetting Rex and Co’s gorgeous, wheezing, rattling walking castle in “The lost commanders”, stomping straight out of a Studio Ghibli film into the sands of Seelos.

“Rebels” gets the tone right; it has the same mixture of moments of high drama and daft humour as the original films; dramatic battle, intense emotion and the lull between storms, and dad-jokes and corny droid slapstick.  And just as with the originals, the humour is character-based and situation-based.  It never feels stuck-on, much less as though it was added to gratify the creators or to make us aware they think they’re superior to the story they are telling.  

And much of the drama likewise is character-based and character-driven.  The protagonists get convincing flaws and strengths, and credible arcs, they grow and develop, and we get to see them deal with the results of their actions; we see them grieve over their losses, suffer in the aftermath of failure and disaster, face up to the past, work out how to move on.  On occasion we see them fail; they try to recover, try to change, don’t always succeed.  I came to care for the Ghost crew to a degree that I would never have expected to care for animated characters.  To root for them, not just in a superficial way, swept up in the story, but with real emotional connection.  I love the relationship between Kanan and Hera, the steady strength of their loyalty, the unspoken love that is so deeply-rooted in friendship and common goals. I am exasperated by Ezra’s follies, I root for him in his struggles, I’m moved by his growth, his self-acceptance and eventual self-sacrifice.  I howled my eyes out several times over this show. They’re cartoons! - they’re not real people, they’re not even real actors, but they make me cry just the same.

There are moments that simply give me shivers, they are so perfectly right; scenes that hit the exact same emotional buttons as the original Star Wars films did for my teenaged self, all those years ago, sitting in the Odeon squeaking in excitement.  Kanan’s lightsaber moment in “Spark of rebellion”, and the scene near the end of “Path of the Jedi” when the kyber crystal gifts itself to Ezra. Pretty much the whole of “Fire across the Galaxy”.  “Legends of the Lasat”!!  The entire Maul arc is packed with these heart-stopping moments, from Maul’s first appearance (I yelled at the tv) to the almost Kurosawa-esque classicism of the final lightsaber duel.

And as well as a wonderful cast of rounded, believable protagonists, and some terrific recurring and guest characters (Hondo!  AP-5!  The Bendu!!), “Rebels” also has some of the best villains.  The Inquisitors sit perfectly in the space between “bog-standard darksider” and Darth Vader.  The Imperials are realistic; bastards, bureaucrats, hypocrites, smarmy career officers treading on everyone below them.  Thrawn is truly splendidly evil, but he’s well-rounded as well, and genuinely formidable because of his intelligence and ruthlessness, not simply because he can smash things up with the Force.  And of course with Agent Kallus we get one of the best-executed redemption arcs I’ve come across in a while.  The combination of good scriptwriting, decently-thought-through character motivation, and David Oyelowo’s beautiful voice-acting make it a real treat to watch that particular storyline play through a second time.  It’s an object lesson in how to create a strong villain and then have them turn to the good side believably.

In short, I love “Rebels” and I love the Rebels themselves, and I love how emotional I get as I follow this now-familiar story, through triumph and disaster, through the funny days, the days of hard slog and the days when your heart breaks in two.  It’s like a gem, cut from the best matrix, shaped and polished with exact skill, neither too grand nor too small but perfect in and of itself.  It’s brilliant.

[mynerdylockscreens]

Any good TV series you recommend?

if you haven’t seen the good place, i highly recommend it! (even though i’m not caught up)

a series of unfortunate events is also really good (although i’m not caught up on that either whoops)

and recently, i started rewatching an older show called raising hope, which is full of A+ weirdness and wholesomeness

if you want pure 70s camp, i reccomend return to the planet of the apes, which my brother and i watched together and provided screencaps for on IMDB (“which screenshot should i upload?” “the gayest one” “gotcha”)

and if you want something weird and indescribable, i recommend garth marenghi’s darkplace, which is A Trip

[douxreviews]

Quantum Leap - Season Four Review

Since season three was mostly leaps of the week, they made an attempt to shake things up with season four by playing with the formula a bit.

But as always, Quantum Leap is at its best when it does arc episodes about Sam and Al, as they again did in the premiere and the finale. There were a few other strong episodes as well.

4.1 "The Leap Back" (June 15, 1945)": In the fourth season premiere, Sam got to play a brand new character: Dr. Sam Beckett. For the past three seasons, we've been leaping with a Sam who had partial amnesia and was completely disconnected from his real life. Here, he was finally dynamic, brilliant scientist Sam, and surprisingly, married Sam.

Mimi Kuzyk did a terrific job as Sam's wife Donna, another brilliant scientist who kept her existence a secret from leaping Sam because she knew that it would make it harder for him to complete his missions. That was darned selfless of her, and that made her feel worthy of him in short order, since our Sam is quite a guy. I also thought Donna waiting for Sam gave us an obvious parallel to Beth, who waited years for prisoner of war Al to come back from Vietnam.

We finally got a lengthy visit to the actual Quantum Leap Project, with interior decoration that made it look as if Al's handlink exploded. We finally met Gooshie, Dr. Beeks and Ziggy, who changed gender in this episode. As Sam became reacquainted with his life and his wife, he and Al reversed roles and Al got to be the leaper who had to fix what once went wrong (and in Al's lifetime, 1945), while Sam's glee as he got to be the hologram was adorably funny. "Revenge is mine. Thus sayeth the hologram!"

Of course, Sam had to re-leap to save Al, so the status quo was too quickly re-attained. Honestly, I would have loved seeing Sam at home and observing and Al leaping for a few episodes.

4.6 "Raped (June 20, 1980)": You'd think an episode about a man occupying the body of a young woman who'd been raped would be uncomfortable, awkward, preachy, and/or cliched — but no. Instead, it was one of the best episodes of the series, because they did it right.

Sam leaped in because Katie, the victim, was having difficulty testifying against her attacker. Scott Bakula's performance as Sam in Katie's body was terrific; calm and matter of fact, Sam fought on Katie's behalf, refusing to accept the way the townspeople and police kept blaming the victim.

Although I always dislike the way trials on television seem to happen instantly after a crime, the strongest scene was Sam testifying on the stand by simply repeating Katie's own words, as Al held her hand. Even though the reason Al did that was so that Sam could see her, it was also a physical way of showing Al and Sam showing their support of Katie. Excellent episode.

4.7 "The Wrong Stuff (January 24, 1961)": Quantum Leap took on animal experimentation as Sam leaped into a test chimp, and they did a good job acknowledging all aspects of a difficult topic. This is the only episode in which Sam leaps into a non-human. I really liked the little nod to Planet of the Apes when Sam tried to write a note.

4.22 "A Leap for Lisa (June 25, 1957)": The lesson of "A Leap for Lisa" is that whenever they go back to the well and do an episode about Al's past, it's a winner. I'd mostly forgotten this one and it was such a pleasant surprise, the best episode in the season, with the possible exception of "Raped."

Sam leaped into 23-year-old Al and it appeared that he was supposed to save Al's married girlfriend Lisa from dying in a car crash, but Al was so bemused by encountering his younger self in the waiting room that he arrived late, in time to watch Lisa die. Sam's interference changed history so that Al would be convicted of the murder of his commander's wife, Marci, and at one point, when probability went up to 100% that Al would die in the gas chamber, the hologram of Al vanished and was replaced by another observer named St. John (Roddy McDowall, and I loved that they brought in an A-list actor to play the part). When Sam solved the murder, young Al had to leap into his earlier self in order to save himself, Lisa and Marci.

It was so much fun to see Al talking to "Bingo," his younger self, in the waiting room. It was also fascinating that Sam initially leaped into Al in the middle of a From Here to Eternity erotic dream on the beach, too. Has Sam ever leaped into someone dreaming before? Did that happen because his mind is linked to Al's?

What's also fun is how this episode inadvertently relates to Star Trek. Charles Rocket's character was called "Commander Riker," a character on Star Trek: The Next Generation; Terry Farrell, who played Lisa, would join the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the following year (1993), and of course, Scott Bakula went on to star in Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001.

Honorable mention

4.11 "The Play's the Thing (September 9, 1969)": A nice episode about ageism. I liked how Sam saw nothing wrong with being a younger man in love with an older woman, and how he immediately and passionately defended Jane's choices and helped her achieve her dreams. Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad had a nice supporting role as Jane's daughter in law.

4.15 "A Song for the Soul (April 7, 1963)": Scott Bakula in an African American girl group, as he backed up the daughter of a preacher who wanted to break into the big time. (The daughter, not the preacher.) This one was sweet. Plus I think it was the first time Sam leaped into a black woman. I particularly liked the sedate gray outfit Al wore in church. (Well, "sedate" for Al.)

4.16 "Ghost Ship (August 13, 1956)": Despite an occasional uncomfortable resemblance to Airplane!, this was a good one about a plane stuck in the Bermuda Triangle. It also featured a very young Carla Gugino.

4.19 "Moments to Live (May 4, 1985)": Sam leaped into a star of daytime drama, and Kathleen Wilhoite and Pruitt Taylor Vince kidnapped him for embarrassing reasons. Well written with good acting, and I'm glad that they (mostly) didn't play kidnapping and mental illness for laughs.

What didn't work

There were a few episodes that I thought were poor, and a couple that made me outright uncomfortable. Starting with...

4.12 "Running for Honor (June 11, 1964)": Al as a homophobe? Yes, I get that even somewhat recently, a majority of people were against gays in the military, but I'd like to think that anyone who dressed the way Al did would be a bit more open-minded. At least Sam was understandably disgusted by his attitude and what happened in the episode changed Al's mind, and I doubt anyone would do an episode like this today. We've come a long way in 25 years.

4.13 "Temptation Eyes (February 1, 1985)": Another attempt to do something new, although I don't think it worked. Tamlyn Tomita played a genuine psychic who fell in love with the real Sam, he fell for her, and they actually got to spend a few weeks together. But the acting and writing were poor and cliched, making it more of a miss than a hit. And that's too bad, because I'd always thought it would be nice if Sam got a vacation in the middle of all that leaping.

4.14 "The Last Gunfighter (November 28, 1957)": My word, this one was terrible. It was like they wanted to do an old west shoot-out but couldn't, so they did it anyway. What town in 1957, even one with a corrupt sheriff, would allow two old men to have a gunfight in the center of town? Innocent bystanders, anyone?

4.18 "It's a Wonderful Leap (May 10, 1958)": Another unsuccessful attempt at something new, this time with Liz Torres from Gilmore Girls as a genuine guardian angel. What bothered me more than I can say was Al doing fat jokes along with even worse Latino jokes. Liz Torres deserved better than this.

4.20 "The Curse of Ptah-Hotep (March 2, 1957)": Intended to be a rip-off of King Tut's tomb and Howard Carter with mysterious deaths, but with the budget of a one-hour TV show, anyone with any knowledge whatsoever of archaeology would find this episode painfully bad. I mean, the mummy comes to life and everything. And John Kapelos, who is usually pretty good, played an Egyptian archaeologist (the John Rhys-Davies role in Indiana Jones) with an accent that sounded like a cross between Russian and Spanish. I haven't finished rewatching the series yet, but this might be my least favorite Quantum Leap episode ever. Certainly my least favorite in season four.

Bits and pieces:

-- Notable actors (other than the ones already mentioned): Neal McDonough, James Morrison, Glenn Morshower, Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the age of ten, Harry Groener, Eriq LaSalle, Bob Saget and Amy Yasbeck.

-- Famous people: There was a little boy named Donald Trump in a New York City cab with his father in "It's a Wonderful Leap." I saw it coming and said out loud, "No, no, please don't."

-- As usual, there were a number of homages to movies, including The Rainmaker, The Defiant Ones, the Indiana Jones movies, and A Few Good Men.

To conclude

Although there were still many strong episodes in season four, I think seasons two and three were a bit stronger. Am I wrong?

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

[arcadetonki]

Tv tropes alien invasion

TV TROPES ALIEN INVASION SERIES

After the “MSTK3” era, which began on local KMTA in Minneapolis in 1988, moved to Comedy Central in 1989, and ended on Syfy in 1999, its various components pushed further into burgeoning online frontiers. Nelson, Kevin Murphy (robot Servo), Bill Corbett (robot Crow) and the assorted cast - has never slipped so far into nostalgia that it’s become mere sci-fi memorabilia. Just a group of Midwestern guys whose droll, mom’s basement sensibility jibed with the age and brought us all along for the ride.īut “MST3K” - with creator Joel Hodgson, Michael J. The writing is super clever, without glamour or pretension. The segments are an homage to sci-fi galore - everything from “Star Trek” and “Planet of the Apes” to modern sitcoms, history and pop-culture absurdities. Fans geek out on the sophisticated references (and if they don’t get a few, so what, they still sound funny), while blissfully indulging in charmingly puerile humor at the same time. With its progenitors in the “horror host” genre dating back to the 1950s, “MST” started riffing in the movies with the ironic humor that has since taken over the cultural zeitgeist. In between, live-action comedy segments and one-off skits feature a rotating mix of bots, aliens, apes and other characters, burnishing a continuing story thread. in the Mike years) force them to “watch cheesy movies, the worst I can find,” to which the main characters add their arch, irreverent and silly goofball commentary. Villains (“The Mads” in the early years, “Pearl Forrester” & Co. Save for random references to moldy headlines - a Nancy Kerrigan here, a Trent Lott there - the cast has taken what turns out to be a centuries-old entertainment form into a universal sphere.įor those unfamiliar with the format: three regular characters - one human (Joel in the early years, Mike the later seasons) and two robots (Tom Servo and Crow) are trapped in space. Furthermore, fans insist the humor transcends “time and space” - and it does. With a generous circulation of the show’s 10 seasons on YouTube, streaming and boxed sets, the S.O.L. Like the iconic “Satellite of Love,” the dog bone-shaped ship, foam planet logo and familiar “MST3K” stage set, it kind of floated into public consciousness somewhere in the ’90s, docked and never left.

TV TROPES ALIEN INVASION SERIES

WASHINGTON - Most older fans of the movie-riffing comedy series “Mystery Science Theater 3000” probably don’t recall the first time they saw their first episode.

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One or two shots look a little wonky effects-wise but everything else, from the visual and practical effects to the compelling story, award-worthy production design and hugely talented cast, all feel timeless. Rewatching Minority Report in 2022 (its 20th anniversary, mind you) a few things instantly became clear. There are lots of good Spielberg sci-fi movies, but one of (arguably) the best is this Tom Cruise film about a man who stops criminals before they commit crimes, and is then accused of committing a future crime himself. In no particular order, here are the best sci-fi movies on Prime Video worth your time, according to Gizmodo Australia. We’ve found you eight sci-fi movies on Prime Video that we think you should watch if you’re a fan of the genre. To our surprise, that isn’t the case, but there are still a bunch of hidden science fiction gems on the shopping giant’s video streaming platform. When we started compiling this list, we thought there’d be a tonne of sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime Video, so many that it was going to be hard to cull them all down into a ‘best’ list. BTW - prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too.

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

I saw:

 Star Wars- If you don’t know the story you won’t care. Why bother summerizing when you can rant!

Yep, I still call the first film “Star Wars” or “the original Star Wars”. Look, I’m old enough that as a little girl I saw it more than once in it’s original release back in 1977, and it was just called Star Wars then. It was called that for a long time. Wanna see how much history I had with Star Wars before the rebranding?

When I saw my first academy awards (or actually fell asleep a few minutes in...I was little!) hoping to see it win Best Picture. Halloween and me in a Princess Leia costume Mom made me and then R2D2 on my birthday cake. I saw The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi at their releases, each at least twice. My family had the 8mm cut down film version, then I worked my ass off one summer to buy the films at rental price,  then eventually upgrading to a VHS widescreen set. I’d seen the movies 100 times each before the 20th anniversary, and I know because I counted! The Star Wars Holiday Special (yes, it’s original airing), the fun animated Droids and Ewoks, the so bad I never wanted to see them again Ewok tv movies, tons of making of specials and guest appearances of people from the films. The entire run of the original Marvel comics. I fell asleep to the  music on 8track every night and then during the day I’d play my drums and cymbals to the vinyl soundtrack. (My parents were very understanding! LOL) I’d also listen  to the “Story of Star Wars”record (flip as the tractor beam pulls them in), that Meco disco album, and upgraded  the soundtracks, first to tape and then CD...more than once. I had lightsaber battles so feirce with my brother we had to get new ones to replace the smashed up old ones. My room had several posters and I wore Star Wars tee shirts.  I collected tons of action figures, dolls, plushes, model ships, blasters and the like, right up until the figures went on clearance post Jedi (just found an old package yesterday between books). Too much merchandise to count. I wore my Han Solo vest every day one year in high school, purchased through the fan club I’d been a member of since it started. I read every single book or magazine to do with the movie or spun off it I could find. And through all of it back then Star Wars was still the default title of the first film....

So, as you can tell, I had a long history of just knowing it as Star Wars. Childhood. Teen. Young adult. While the “A New Hope” subtitle was added to the crawl in one of the rereleases, it was just Star Wars when anyone talked about it. I can’t remember now exactly when the rebranding got aggressive, with the anniversary in 1997 or the release of the prequels, but for at least 20 years I only ever heard anyone call it Star Wars.  

When Lucasfilms started to try to make “A New Hope” a thing I kind of rolled my eyes. No one was confused by the film series for Planet of the Apes, The Thin Man or The Pink Panther sharing a name with their first films, so why bother? Now, I can get that after the subtitle got added to the opening crawl that it would make sense technically to make the titling of the films uniform. But I also knew it didn’t matter. It isn’t like it was a person asking you to use another name. The only people that cared were the more obsessive fans that liked to be smug about knowing the “real” title and George BLOODY Lucas. I rolled my eyes and doubted people would rewrite their memories just to make them happy. 

I was wrong.

And so here we are at a time where people mock you if you call it “Star Wars” insteas of “A New Hope” So why do I still defiantly cling to the original title? Because it’s part of the mutilation and rewriting Lucas started doing. I’d been bothered reading interviews when I was a girl where he would contradict himself on the stories behind the stories, going so far as to claim things were “always” intended that reading early drafts showed no mention of. But ok, I knew creation is a process and some people want everyone to think it’s actually just a miraculous whoosh springing out fully formed. And despite the fact I knew full well that other people worked on the films, in the case of Empire and Jedi other directors and writers, I still shrugged it off and gave him the ultimate credit for everything. He was flawed and human, with an ego under that mild exterior, some of what he said was total BS and maybe my brother was right after watching an interview when he said the god of the Star Wars universe had no one anymore to question him...but still I trusted Lucas.

I was wrong.

 Never mind the mind blowingly huge problems with the prequels, my disilusioning started right here, with the Special Editions. Most of the changes were pointless but some actually seemed to damage the films. Take my top three grumbles:

1) Tatoonie should NOT be a rosy pink! Before it was bright clear sunlight, unrelenting hot, parching and desolate, unforgiving...now it’s all pretty, colorful and warm. It reduces the sunbaked heat, but more important the dry barren sense of a colorless place Luke would ache to leave.

2) Han’s conversation with Jabba should not be in this film. I know it was filmed originally and cut for technical reasons, I’ve had a bootleg of it since my first convention, but loosing it was a good thing. Jabba should remain a shadowy unseen threat, someone that wants Han’s hide enough it looms over our scoundrel until the third film. The reveal of Jabba gains power in Jedi because you don’t know the extent of his powers but he’s supposed to be scary and we see him up in a position or authority over the room. Here Jabba looses power by not only being on the same level as Han and seeming smaller, but for crying out loud there is the gag of Han stepping on his tail while seeming completely unconcerned! And speaking of people being reduced...Boba Fett is this mysterious bounty hunter not just some damn henchman to Jabba. What part of mysterious don’t they get!

3) Mos Eisley does not need to me so cluttered up with CGI characters! This is a middle of nowhere planet with a scattered population and a climate many people wouldn’t enjoy. Sure it’s a spaceport but with buildings, many of which are at least partly underground as relief from the environment. The streets actually gain a sense of unease by being underpopulated, giving a sense that people (of whatever sort) could be watching from doorways. Like you could be attacked and no one would notice. But nope, now it’s bustling, so full of effects life that they actually wreck the look of shots by having gratitous critters and droids moving to block us seeing our characters.

Yes, I didn’t mention the Greedo thing. It doesn’t bother me as much as the rest, but you all know that if Lucas HAD wanted to film it that way originally it would have been just as easy as what we got.

Still, I wouldn’t be bothered at all if this was just an alternate version. Blade Runner, E.T. and others have given you a choice of which version to watch in DVD sets. I was sure both versions would stay easily available.

I was wrong. 

Lucas decided that whatever version was his current take should be the only one out there. The DVDs with the original (close enough) cuts long ago went out of print (and in my case the DVDs failed!) so if you want to see Star Wars not going to look at all like my first 100 times seeing it. 

And that’s my problem. Rejiggered versions have become the only version. If out of preference, curiosity or nostalgia you want to see something from before the monkeying around you have to look to illegal means. As far as Lucas is concerned he would like everyone to pretend any prior versions existed. History is rewritten and we aren’t supposed to grumble. All hail the genius of Lucas or some rot and forget anything you saw on screen and anything he said before. And it bugs me because I resent being told to forget

 Retitling the movie, not subtitle but what we are supposed to call it, is just a tiny part of the emperor’s dictates. And my refusal to use that name is symbollic. In fact this insignificant gesture is a bit like something....Now what’s the word?

Ah yes.

Rebellion.

LOL 

But not to worry. My generation will die off eventually. Those that grew up without special editions, prequels, and so forth will die out. In 100 years everyone will call it “A New Hope” and will not even realize anything was ever changed. But for now some of us still remember another Star Wars.......

One last note: I think the double whammy of the SEs and the prequels did something I thought impossible....I fell out of love with Star Wars. I rarely watch it since I only have the SE and when I do I spend some of the time grumpy at alterations I don’t like  and all of it a bit empty. It’s the only time in my life that I’d ever stopped loving anyone or anything. For me usually live cools but the warmth remains to quickly rekindle. When the Force Awakens came out I felt my affection return a bit to the franchise for the first time this century and I thought my love could be reborn. But tonight, rewatching Star Wars, I realized something has been permanently lost. It no longer hurts to watch but the heart has gone out of it for me........

[takeoffphilippines]

POP CULTURE HEROES TO COME OUT AND PLAY IN TOYCON 2018

Two Power Rangers, a Peter Pan Fire Lord, a lycan (ie. werewolf), and a legendary comic book creator are coming to TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018 on June 8-10, 2018 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

The Philippine TOYCON, Asia’s longest-running culture convention for toys, collectibles, and various pop culture fandoms, announced the latest line up of guests for this year’s highly-anticipated event.

Leading the list is comic book industry Hall of Famer Neal Adams, whose reinvention of Batman’s look to the blue-and-gray color scheme highlights his work and influence during the 1960s and 1970s, aside from creating Batman villains Ra’s al Ghul and Man-Bat, and revitalized other titles such as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and X-Men.

Filipino-American actor Dante Basco will get to meet his kababayan fans. He played Peter Pan’s sidekick Rufio in the 1991 movie Hook alongside Robin Williams, and is the voice actor for the fire-bender Zuko in Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jake Long in Disney’s American Dragon: Jake Long cartoon series, as well as various video game characters.

Two actors from the Power Rangers franchise will share the TOYCON 2018 stage. Jason David Frank played the Green Ranger and the White Ranger in the 1993-1996 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series and its other iterations over the years. Michael Copon’s breakout role was playing the Blue Ranger in last year’s Power Rangers: Time Force movie, but he was also known for his roles in the TV series One Tree Hill.

Another TOYCON 2018 guest is Kevin Grevioux, best known for his role as the lycan Raze who fought against vampires in the Underworld film series, which he also co-created and wrote the screenplay of the movie. He also appeared in films such as Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake, The Mask, and Steel. American actress, fashion model and beauty queen, Kelly Hu will join Toycon, he's popularly known to play as Sorceress Cassandra in The Scorpion King movie, then Kelly played a villain in X-men 2 movie as Lady Deathstrike, the mutant with adamantium finger claws. She did voice roles for characters in Phineas and Ferb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Green Lantern:Emerald Knight. On TV she played as Pearl on CW series The Vampire Diaries and also in Arrow tv series as China White.

According to Cholo Mallillin, Event Marketing Head for TOYCON PH, this year’s event aims to give Filipino pop culture fans a playground experience with a community that shares their common interests.

“What we want to give TOYCON fans every year is a sense of belonging to various fan communities. We bring in guests and experiences that bring fans back to why they collect toys, cosplay, read comics, or rewatch their favorite TV series or movies in the first place,” Mallillin said.

Mallillin added that more guests and attractions will be announced in the coming days and even on the opening day itself.

Among the other attractions in TOYCON 2018 is “Sikat Ka Toy!”, the Philippine’s first ever toy design contest. Artists and toy aficionados can submit their designs by June 2 for a chance to receive more than Php 30,000 worth of prizes and the opportunity to have their winning toy design produced for limited sale. Toy designs for the Sikat Ka Toy! contest can be emailed to toyconph@gmail.com by June 2, 2018, and contest mechanics are on toyconph.com.

Other attractions for this year include toy exclusives from the popular Funko toy line, as well as toy exhibits and launches from global designers, Anatoy from South Korea, Coarse from the USA, Deewy from China, Playhouse from Thailand, and Hidden Fortress Manila featuring the works of premier Pinoy toy designer Quiccs Maiquez. Highlights: The biggest gathering of Toys, comics and merch exhibitors in the country The biggest toy display by the Philippines Toy Group Association International celebrities and guest from PopLife FANX International toy designers from Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and USA Toy exhibit by XM Studios, Sideshow, Prime One and Hot Toys Visual art exhibit by Toym Imao Arts and Comics artist Alley Filipino Comics Legends Exhibit ABS CBN Display Cosplay K.O. Solar, Jack TV and MTV display Sinag Animation Presentation TMC mini cinema showing Tokyo Ghoul, Fist of Fury and The Wailing TRESE Toy Launch The Creator Stage featuring online creators and celebrity Gaming Stage Sound Arena Stage featuring: KISSBEE, HYOLYN and APL DE AP Warner Bros. presents Teen Titans and The Meg Action figure and toy customization contest Sikat Ka Toy! Philippine toy design competition Toycon Exclusive - TEQ63 Manila Killa by Quiccs Toycon Exclusive - Toycon Minifig by Pinoy LUG Pinoy Pop Culture Icon Award AND MANY MORE.......

TOYCON 2018 + POPLIFE FANX is sponsored by Maxi Collector, Legendary Beast Studio, XM, Filbars, Great Toys Online, and Gaming Library.

Supported by Kramer Toy Warden, Warner Bros, Tagalized Movie Channel, Sinag Animation Studios, Anotoys Collectibles, Hubbyte Toys and Collectibles, Dreamworks Dreamplay, City of Dreams Manila, Shopback, Halimaw Studios, Big Boys Toy Store, KidsCompany, Bandai, Gundam Build Divers, Devant, Tamashii Nations, Good Smile Company, Jinio, Comic Odyssey, DC Superheroes Cafe, Food Panda, Bruder, Xend and Oishi O Wow.

Media Partner with ABS CBN, Expat Philippines, WheninManila.com, Manila Bulletin, MTV Philippines, Jack TV, PSICOM Publishing, Retro 105.9, Clickthecity.com and the Philippine Bloggers Network

Event Partner with TEQ63, Anima Alliance, Philippine Toy Groups Association and Ex-Link Events

TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018 regular day passes and FanX VIP Experience passes are available in all SM Ticket outlets or through www.toyconph.com.

For more Daily Dose Of Eyegasmic Occurrences follow our Social Media Accounts:

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/TakeOffPHBlog

Instagram/Twitter: @takeoff_ph

[itcamefromblog]

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES arrives in theaters this week, and I am extremely excited for this third entry in the rebooted APES series. The quality storytelling in both RISE and DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES unexpectedly raised the bar for the almost 50-year-old franchise, and a recent rewatch of DAWN reminded me of how these new films are packed with emotion and intelligence, making the onscreen stakes and conflicts that play out much more compelling.

In the capable hands of director Matt Reeves and motion-capture star Andy Serkis as Caesar, I’d gladly watch more new APES films by 20th Century Fox to see just where the narrative will take us and how closely it will skew to the original franchise storyline.

And, please, just give Andy Serkis an Oscar nomination already, if not a special award. The man who gave us Gollum is a pioneer in the mo-cap arena of special effects and his performances have consistently given heart and soul to every character he has portrayed, especially Caesar. Perhaps this year the Motion Picture Academy will recognize that CGI performances are more than just pixels; they’re people.

My PLANET OF THE APES experience dates back to my childhood in the ’70s. Growing up in the suburbs of New York City, I used to watch THE 4:30 MOVIE weekdays on WABC Channel 7. The genre-film programming on this local station was stellar, with theme weeks dominating the line-up such as Monster Week, Vincent Price Week, Edgar Allen Poe Week, Sci-Fi Week, Lost World Week, and, of course, PLANET OF THE APES Week.

  THE 4:30 MOVIE had a 90-minute timeslot and so the films shown were often heavily edited. PLANET OF THE APES always got special treatment as a two-parter, while BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, and CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES would fill out the other three days of Ape Week. BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES would usually be relegated to another theme week, like Sci-Fi Week, and play alongside such films as FANTASTIC VOYAGE and the similar Charlton Heston dystopian classics SOYLENT GREEN and THE OMEGA MAN. 

Ape Fever was strong in the early ’70s, and I was very much caught up in it. I read the Pierre Boulle novel and wondered why it was so different from the films. I watched the short-lived PLANET OF THE APES TV series first-run in 1974 and caught every episode of the Saturday morning animated cartoon series RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES the following year. I owned several of the Mego eight-inch action figures, including Cornelius, Zira, Soldier Ape, Alan Verdon, and “Astronaut,” which really felt like a rehashed “Action Jackson” figure. I coveted the many other Mego APES playsets and accessories, like that awesome Apes Treehouse with the flip-action secret weapons bench and “Detention Pen,” and that Apes Fortress with the “Sun Reflector” at the top. I also wanted that Mattel Rapid-Fire Rifle with Ape Mask set that sat on the shelf at the toy store, beckoning, but my mom wasn’t too keen to see me running around with a gun and a horrid rubber mask.

**serious plot spoilers below for those folks who have never seen the original PLANET OF THE APES series**

Simply put, I’m a huge fan of the original APES films (save for BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, which always felt like an afterthought that never quite fit with the first four films in the series). Watched in order, APES, BENEATH, ESCAPE, and CONQUEST transported me into my first futuristic wasteland cinematically, left me gobsmacked when Taylor realized that he was on Earth and not some crazy Ape-run planet (“You maniacs! You blew it up! Aww, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”), and then ultimately delivered a narrative time-loop paradox that blew my kiddie mind when Roddy McDowall, as Caesar in the final burning frames of CONQUEST, promised “the birth of the Planet of the Apes!”

As far as pure Sci-Fi goes, BENEATH remains my favorite of all APES films thanks to the post-apocalyptic New York underground setting, the telepathic mutants, their warped worship of a planet-killing bomb, and the generous screen time devoted to the beautiful Linda Harrison as Nova. The character of Nova was one of my earliest onscreen crushes and the fact that I got to see her continued storyline — as well as more time in that primitive, revealing costume — and shockingly hear her speak, sealed the deal for me.

I could go on and on about PLANET OF THE APES, but I’ll keep it brief. Given my appreciation of and minor obsession with Lobby Cards, I’ve assembled a batch from all five original PLANET OF THE APES films below, hailing from a few different countries. Enjoy!

A little background info on lobby cards I like to regularly share for context: Back in the days before the Internet, movie lobby cards were a powerful tool used by Hollywood studios to lure audiences into the darkened theater. They were the last line of enticement — and sometimes the first — alongside carpet-bombing consumers with coming attractions, movie posters, marquees, publicity stunts, movie program books, and newspaper advertisements for their newest big-screen sensation. With no entertainment websites or blogs available to tease audiences with stills from their films, lobby cards served that purpose for the studio publicity machine. These days, movie theater lobbies have eschewed the traditional lobby card for posters, standees, trailers on repeat, experiential activations and more.

  More Lobby Cards to ogle:

Ridley Scott’s ALIEN Lobby Cards from 1979

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE James Bond Lobby Cards from 1967

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME James Bond Lobby Cards from 1977

Original STAR WARS lobby cards from 1977

JAWS franchise lobby cards

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    Go Ape! with Primitive ‘Planet of the Apes’ Lobby Cards & More Mutant Memories WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES arrives in theaters this week, and I am extremely excited for this third entry in the…