A Community of Emeralds

I really ought to be used to funny television shows trolling me with feelings-oriented episodes by now. Scrubs did it so many times. MASH did it. Futurama continues to do it. Hell, even Extras has done it. So why am I surprised when Community does it AGAIN? Why, I ask you, should I be taken off my ever watchful guardianship of feelings when a show that has already trolled me once again sends in the under-the-bridge crew to toy with my heart? Even if only slightly? Apparently other people didn’t much care for The “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations” episode but it hit on things I tend to try to avoid in my comedic television therapy and while I didn’t find it as funny I still thought the stories explored were valuable for the show, to kind of bundle up some things, ironically by unbundling some other things, such as Jeff’s backstory and unresolved father issues. I’ve been a fan of Community since the first Halloween episode (not that I disliked it before that point but that first Halloween show pushed me from casual viewer to hardcore fanatic pretty solidly) and I’ve found the characters’ development to be pretty steadily believable for the most part. Troy, quite honestly, has made the most progress as a human being, but since he’s never been portrayed as a frame character he doesn’t get the attention that Abed and Jeff do, so I can understand the need to focus in on Jeff’s story. (At least for the sake of consistency.) And I like Jeff. I just happen to like the characters as an ensemble more than I like them individually. But hooray, Community continues and I’m enjoying this season, even if people on the internet are frustrated by the fact that a show about community college has gone all Homer Simpson’s job at the nuclear plant (i.e. His job used to matter and then the show decided it didn’t. Much like the career chips on Futurama.)

I just watched Oz: The Great and Powerful with a friend. While certainly not the most amazing movie I’ve ever seen I’m happy to say that the reviews undersold it. It’s pretty good, and fine for the 2 hour runtime it has. I don’t feel that I wasted my $10. There are many visual elements I felt were designed solely so advertising could be prepared on the basis: “This summer, opening at Disneyland, the Oz Ride.” Sure, marketing tie-in. I get it. But it was fun, if not also simple in its development. James Franco plays a sly man a little too well. (And now I’m just thinking of him on 30 Rock.) I’ve only read two of the original book series (it’s not on the LIST) and I know Disney had to go out of their way in terms of copyright concerns to keep the story “clean” of references but it was still a nice setup. I’m pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed myself.

Posted on March 11, 2013 by philippajayfry 0

Best Hyper-Trekkie Theories on Benedict Cumberbatch’s Character*

*I’m the Trekkie in question here. And I’m just being silly.

Khan. Like the entire damn internet hasn’t been saying that for the last two years. I’m going to revisit this in my other writing.
Neo. The poster gives him just enough of a Matrix feel that you could conceivably consider a universe crossing.
Any Sith Lord. Oh wait, wrong franchise. (That said, Star Trek was Star Wars-y enough, wasn’t it?)
Moriarty. If you haven’t watched the TNG episodes about Moriarty in a while, you should… not do it. But there is a meta reference to Sherlock here that might fill you with nerd glee if you’re into such things. (I am.)
Q. Come on, I know it doesn’t fit at all with what’s in the trailer. Nonetheless, when I picture Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain, I picture him as a Q being, not a Khan being. Snark, wit, haberdashery, dramatics. Not just alternatively hot and cool passion. BC has the presence to pull this off in a way that would be very different from any Jon deLancie performance and yet would be just as enjoyably good. Take half of his personality from playing Sherlock and you’d still be able to pull out a good Q character.
The new Borg King. (Different universe, different genders. Like every sci-fi show out there hasn’t done this, from Star Trek to Sliders. Yep. I referenced Sliders.) I don’t see why you couldn’t have a human looking Borg. The cybernetics are buried within a better layer of skin.
The Holodeck. Yes. He’s just the Holodeck. (I stole this idea from Topless Robot’s 30 Greatest Star Trek Villains list.) Actually, so far, in the J.J. Abrams version of things, this is the idea I like the most. At least it’d be original.
Any member of Species 8472. Seriously. They came from another dimension. They masquerade as human beings. They wreak destruction. It’s a better story than the boring Khan Revisited! plot line the internet seems to crave so much.
Someone from the alien race responsible for the probe that was destroying Earth while in pursuit of humpback whales. See, you thought it was all resolved when a smiling Spock and company got drenched in the San Francisco bay. But no, really, those aliens didn’t want humpback whales at all. It was just a clever cover for destroying Earth. It failed. And ergo, you get an emissary (no, not THAT emissary) who returns to complete the destruction by commanding the loyalty of sea creatures. (There is, after all, a shot of a Federation starship [presumably the Enterprise] lifting off from water.) Also, Futurama reference.
Data. He’s pale. Data’s dead. Data’s gone batshit. If you’re going to revisit characters, they might as well be good ones. Who doesn’t want to see an android on a killing spree? (The people behind the Voight-Kampff test, I guess…)
William Decker. If you don’t remember who he is, perhaps it’s because you fell asleep during Star Trek: The Motion Picture, some time between the 30 minute pan shot of the Enterprise and the anticlimactic realization that V’Ger is actually Voyager, but you know, the satellite that humans launched into space, not the Delta Quadrant bound ship of the damned. I like the idea of his “returning” from his merging with Ilia and V’Ger. Then taking over with his angry, angry years of having been a boring satellite. (Side note, best thing about Star Trek: The Motion picture is the music and the metallic sound effects of V’Ger communications. Not Ilia.)
A Terminator. He’s after Kyle Reese, of course. By which I mean Anton Yelchin. META.
Wesley Crusher. Wait, hear me out. This is the rebooted universe. It begins when a stupid Romulan who possesses the makings of a TIME MACHINE goes back in time to destroy a different planet rather than say, stop the destruction of his own. Wesley Crusher (though he was silently present for Deanna Troi and William Riker’s wedding) was last seen leaving Starfleet to hang out with The Traveler, who had previously informed Picard that Wesley was special. Wesley also realized he could manipulate time and space and would evolve to something beyond human capacity. “Enjoy these final moments of peace for I have returned to have my vengeance.” That’s one of the big Benedictine lines in the trailer. Wesley Crusher could be a time lord. Why not? In the Japanese trailer, he also asks “Is there anything you would not do for your family?” So clearly, you know, he’s out to save his hot mom.

Now, I’m going on a rant. The trailer itself is boring and the sound that is now most famously associated with Inception makes it seem sillier. Whatever. You could still work with that. Some of the best episodes of Star Trek were introduced with a “coming next week” preview that was cheesy and awful. It’s not a disqualification on its own. The best part of the whole trailer is the fact that only Benedict Cumberbatch speaks and nobody else has anything to say. I know they’re setting this up to make you think that he’s playing Khan. His quotes, his lines, though not specifically Khan quotes have the same resonance. I’ve watched the trailer about 15 times at this point, pausing it on still frames and looking for detail. (Also is the blond meant to be Nurse Chapel or Janice Rand? Carol Marcus? Unnecessary diversion. But she is wearing science/medical blue and not red…) The collar of his jacket when he bursts in is reminiscent of the fashion of Wrath of Khan. And since the Japanese trailer (find me a nerd who hasn’t seen that one too) has the so-called spoiler of showing a scene where two Starfleet uniformed persons touch hands through a glass window, it is really set up to make you think that it’s repeating the ending of Wrath of Khan where Spock, of course, dies.Klingons? Are those Klingons? Because that sets up the plot of Star Trek III too. It’s too easy. It’s too clean. I hold out a lot of hope that it’s a trick. Then again, I held out a lot of hope that the Nero storyline was not what Star Trek would be about and alas, it was. I’m concerned that the Spock dying scene will be real but it will, in fact, be the demise of Leonard Nimoy Spock.

THE NEEDS OF THE ONE SPOCK OUTWEIGH THE NEEDS OF THE MANY SPOCKS.

So here’s my question. You have rebooted the universe. Why do you want to remake everything exactly as it was? Why not recreate thins? Do better mashups? Make better stuff? Of course, Roberto Orci wrote Transformers so I hold very little hope that it will actually be good.

What’s to stop the Borg from showing up 80 years earlier than expected? Turn Kirk into Locutus instead? Or you know, avoid that angle all together, and instead set the Borg up as a different sort of enemy.
Use the Romulans well. They have been hideously underutilized in Star Trek, and they deserve so much more. You’ve already destroyed Vulcan. The Vulcans and the Romulans share common ancestry Work in a plot about Spock trying to rebuild his heritage, a la Unification, but less preachy and with fewer results.
If you’re going to do Khan, do a better version of the story. “Space Seed” really wasn’t that exciting. Kirk didn’t really have much of a background with Khan before Khan pretty much decides to try to murder him. The part that’s the most intriguing is a line he says in that movie… “On Earth, two hundred years ago, I was a prince.” Yes. Because of the Eugenics Wars. Somebody please make a miniseries about the Eugenics Wars. In the rebooted canon, you can abandon the idea that they happened in the latter 20th century (so as to avoid audience cringing) and do it well. I know this can be done, Hollywood. You just have to find the right people.
Use this as a fantastic opportunity to insert Section 31 or something similar into this version of the Federation. Dark Star Trek is good, and this reboot was clearly set up to be darker, if not also more action-oriented. So there’s hope for the subversive and clandestine therein. It’s mentioned in DS9 and Enterprise both. It’s supposedly been with the Federation since the beginning. Go with it. In fact, make an entire spy series of Star Trek out of Section 31. I’ve already got your theme song…
Create new aliens. New races. New planets. New worlds. New technology. Oh yes, basically, just use this as a valid excuse to disrupt canon and make something that is new and interesting. Believe it or not, fans actually like this sort of thing. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be thousands and thousands upon thousands of pieces of fanfic out there. I don’t like it when Star Trek feels like one of the rejects of the “SyFy Original Series” lineup. And the J.J. Abrams version does seem to feel a little more like that than it should.

TLDR Version? Read the MTV article instead.

Posted on December 8, 2012December 8, 2012 by philippajayfry 1

What to Watch When You’re Watching Watching

It’s so nice to have a laptop that doesn’t fight with my Steam account. Especially since I ended up playing the free Awesomenauts preview this weekend (and getting the game). Maybe I can also finally finish playing Limbo. (To be fair, though, I started that one on XBOX, but still, the portability of being able to play things on my laptop is just insanely nice.)

I was very ill this weekend and all I could do for most of it was lie in bed watching TV. Somehow this led to my watching Neverland. This is the 2011 “prequel” to Peter Pan. I’m a big J.M. Barrie fan (and for works beyond Peter Pan, actually) so I tend to get a little bristly at all things that try to revisit that world without much consideration to the overall meanings. This is, unfortunately, what we call nerd rage. Nonetheless, I wanted to give this movie a fair try. I don’t think it’s bad. What I do think it is is somewhat careless and not always that interesting. The dates and times are accurate enough but you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that a woman commanded a pirate crew in the 1700s and also lived through an additional 200 years in Neverland. This is not because I think women are not qualified but rather because all known information about pirates suggests that they were overwhelmingly male and rejecting of women on their ships. Not to mention that their average captain’s reign was less than two years long. (Typically ending in mutiny, capture, or death.) I don’t think the background story given is as well thought-out as it should have been. Still, it’s pretty and well shot, so it’s not a bad way to kill three hours. (Especially if you cannot move in the slightest from your bed.)

Last weekend it was Skyfall. Skyfall is a little bit boring. Mainly at points when it involves James Bond. Javier Bardem’s character is the best acted and most interesting and scenes with him were far more exciting than scenes with our favorite 007 Daniel Craig. (Sorry to say it.) Also, the film bends over backward to tell us how the “old ways” are dying out and we have to cope with change. This went way too far, often steering into preachy territory. While I really enjoyed the scenes with “Q” there is at least one moment of utter stupidity on his part that unfortunately totally unravels his entire premise of being a technological genius. (Or at least makes it seem exaggerated.) Still, it’s a fun movie to watch and enjoyable enough for an action movie. I just would suggest that you watch it at home when it comes out on DVD rather than spending the money to see it in theaters. Unfortunately for my friends, I also kept asking (far too often) why anyone would trust Voldemort to lead MI6 anyway. (Ralph Fiennes probably would find this irritating too.)

Posted on November 18, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

Ralph Can’t Relax

Am I permitted to go on and on about how much I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph? Of course I am. This is a blog devoted to being a huge nerd, so I get to say whatever I want about being a huge nerd. Ta-da!

Rich Moore is a little bit of an idol for me. He worked on some of the best early Simpsons and Futurama episodes and since he’s the directorial brains behind Wreck-It Ralph, I have to mention him in this gushing. (He worked on a number of other animated productions as well, and this just further endears him to me since I have a bit of a soft spot for animated series and movies.) In any case, major props to him for this movie because it was awesome. And also one of the few times when I’ve gone to see a movie in a theater and actually haven’t been the slightest bit disconcerted by the throngs of <10 year old children who were also in the theater watching. (This is what you get for weekend matinees, though, I suppose.)

The movie is such a good blend of affirmative and silly vignettes. I was expecting a few more retro references than I got but it was cute to see so many 8/16 bit game allusions all the same. I was also happy with the depth of detail in the modern game (Sugar Rush!) including the in-film joke about “double stripes.” What really sold me on this were the overlapping backdrops and stylistic elements. Jack McBrayer killed me with his portrayal of Fix-It Felix. (Of course, I’ve yet to see Jack McBrayer in anything where he didn’t play a semi-innocent good-guy character so I don’t know that this isn’t just his personality. Ha.) Also, Alan Tudyk!

Dorks, you MUST see this.

Posted on November 6, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

Dork Knight

The Dark Knight Rose. So did the Dorks. I’m disappointed that the midnight premiere was tainted by the horrible events in Colorado but I still thoroughly enjoyed my own midnight excursion. (It’s sad, really, to have to feel bad for wanting to talk about something I enjoyed because there are tragedies associated with the same thing.) I have only minor complaints about the movie, really, and since I was expecting it to be an action film I suppose there was no real disappointment in watching what was essentially a slamming action movie.
I don’t have much else to say about the movie right now but I suspect I’ll gather up the energy to say more as time goes on.

Posted on July 23, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

batman and games roundup

Countdown to The Dark Knight Rises: -3 days. I’m actually starting to get stupidly excited over heading to a midnight show. I think I’ve been excited by every one of the Nolan Batman movies but I guess it’s the fact that I need something dorkish to look forward to doing.

Cards Against Humanity truly is a game for “horrible people.” And I love it. As someone who has spent years playing Apples to Apples in a horrifying fashion, I have to admit to not finding CAH “shocking” but rather more in keeping with our group’s style of behaving like horrible people during board games. I really love that CAH is distributed under a Creative Commons license and therefore provides the ability to create your own deck. Hooray for being a horrible person! And for party games!

Why does Steam continue to offer awesome sales on things I want while I am currently undergoing computer revisions? It’s like the universe is out to get me. I always seem to have a soft spot for the indie bundles. Honestly, my video game world has taken a serious decline as I continue to play round after round of Ticket to Ride Online. Behold the unfortunate power of the nerd who is over-invested in finding some surprise at turn 1,000.

Posted on July 17, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

i aim to misbehave

Why is it that Malcolm Reynolds is still such a fantastic geek icon despite his extraordinarily limited screen time?

I’m not objecting. I’m actually rather happy that the fourteen episodes (and one movie) that are nearly ten years old are still so popular and such a part of the geek lexicon. I’m just surprised that it’s still the case. I recently got my mother interested in watching Firefly, which was kind of an exciting moment for me because usually our television interests are extraordinarily different. (Not that she’s exactly on time to this particular party.)

Speaking of getting things “Whedoned” up I know I really should have shared this quite some time ago but here’s a link to the Avengers done in the Firefly style.

I don’t have a good new nerd bite this week. I blame this on being behind on comics, television, movies, and even the internet. Hopefully the next time I’m back in here there will be something more to say.

Posted on July 16, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

the once and modern prometheus

Watching this movie at midnight was a mistake.

Now allow me to explain why.

In no way was Prometheus a horrible, unbearable piece of junk. In no way was it so overwhelmingly disappointing that I regret seeing it. No, I simply regret staying up to watch it at 12:01 AM because the sleep-deprivation wasn’t worth it. Nor the $11 movie ticket. The merits of Prometheus include extremely enjoyable visuals. It’s a very pretty movie and if you turned off the sound I bet it would just pass by your eyes as a series of nice art prints. Noomi Rapace does an excellent job of fulfilling the Ridley Scott Alien strong woman survivor character and she’s actually very believable in her transitions. (Though I have to admit that I grew tired of her in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and I’ve never quite been sure why.) The stunning standout of the whole thing, though is, of course, Michael Fassbender as creepy android David. I don’t quite know what it is about the Alien franchise and androids but yea though I walk through the valley of uncanny shadow… and so forth. Regardless, if I were asked what made the movie worth seeing those are the three things I’d continue to point out. (Also, I’ve never seen a single film Michael Fassbender was in where I didn’t like his performance. It should be noted I skipped over Jonah Hex.)

If asked, however, what made it not worth seeing, I’d have to tell you that the story is fairly predictable and most of the time when you think something is about to happen, it’s because it’s going to happen. There’s a moment with Charlize Theron where all I could think was “Um, duh.” (By the by, her own robotic ice queen character was really working for her.) The film also raises questions about continuity within the Alien universe and even what you’re supposed to believe is the meaning of the ending (which of course, I won’t discuss here).

Also, don’t bother staying until the end of the credits. It’s kind of a big fuck you to the audience (and not in the awesome way that Avengers had a big fuck you to the audience) and really, you’re better off just exiting once the happy music starts up.

Posted on June 9, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

even scum spend the holidays with their families

As part of the series Ten Days of Comic Book Movies.

#10: The Dark Knight (2008)

Trade Paperback Tickets: So now that we’ve reached the final date of this comic book adventure, there are probably some sore losers who wonder why I didn’t include movie A or move B or what not but there was never any promise to bring you the best of the best, only a sampling of those that I have enjoyed in the last ten years. Still, there is a lot of noise that The Dark Knight is the best comic book movie of all time. (Or at least there was before people started saying that Avengers was a candidate for that title.) I’m a Batmanaholic, honestly, and the excitement and thrill of The Dark Knight was such that I saw it twice on opening day: once at 12:01 AM and once again at 7:00 PM. Those experiences, while both full of nerds, were very different. The super nerdy energy of seeing a dorky comic book movie at midnight is always more fantastic than seeing it with the (and I hate to use this term) mainstream movie crowd on a Friday night. Fewer costumed heroes and in-jokes in the opening day standard showing crowds. Midnight movies are for true believers.

What I truly like about this movie version:

You already know what point #1 is going to be. It’s Heath Ledger and his portrayal of the Joker, of course. OF COURSE. DUH. A thousand times DUH. Best film adaptation/on-screen version of that character ever. He breathed such an interesting and fascinating light to the Joker wrapped him up with all of the usual giddiness and prankishness but made him sinister, evil, the true mirror to Batman, in the way that The Killing Joke suggested he should be. Heath Ledger was very much one of my favorite actors. (He and Christian Bale were both also on the fangirl crush list, also, which made my nerd excitement over this movie even more evident when it was first trailering in theaters.) I’m glad that the last thing we really remember him for is something that was so universally acknowledged to be incredible.
“Wanna see a magic trick?” <- Done. No explanations needed.
Two-Face. I think I mentioned in the listing for Batman Begins that my favorite Batman villains include Ra’s Al Ghul and the Joker but Two-Face rounds out the triad. (Mr. Freeze and the Riddler would follow close behind, though Bane is an interesting choice for The Dark Knight Rises, I guess. I kept joking that it should be the Clock King. Totally believable villain in the Nolan realism world, right?) Anyway, Harvey Dent is fabulous and I’m happy that he got to be in a movie at the same time as the Joker. I wasn’t 100% behind Aaron Eckhart’s performance or casting but he really turned it into something I could support, nonetheless. (Fun fact, I once read a list of “Lawyers in Comics” and nobody mentioned either Harvey Dent or Daredevil. WTF?”)
Scarecrow makes another brief appearance, really demonstrating that the rogues are out in droves.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is so much better than Katie Holmes. So much better. I actually felt something when her pivotal scenes were taking place.
All of the staple Batman characters progress in their Gotham fabulousness. I was so happy to see them all there, making a rounded and complete Batman tale. I’d ultimately always have to take the Animated Series over any of the movies, only because it had a longer-running place in my heart, but The Dark Knight, it does a fabulous job of knitting together those connections and making them splendidly believable, interesting, and dramatic.
Cliffhanger conclusion. This is my term for the modern ending where there definitely is an end to a story but it has the power to go on because you don’t really know what happened. I actually do like this sort of ending (many readers of modern literature and short stories hate this kind of thing) and it’s very appropriate for a Batman story regardless. There’s always a new crime, a new villain, a new story.

What I think may not be so good:

There’s actually very little of Batman himself in this movie. And when he is there, Christian Bale seems to have learned to overdo the Batman voice by about fifty times over his Batman Begins performance, which is just silly.

Endorsements & Prohibitions:

I can’t grant a perfect rating but I can give it a 9.6, just enough to show that I think it edges out Scott Pilgrim in terms of its place in the universe but really, I only do that because my attachment to the world of Batman is so much greater than my attachment to the world of Scott Pilgrim is. I haven’t decided yet if Avengers is better than The Dark Knight but I can tell you that Dark Knight is ridiculously, insanely amazing and you should own it just to pull out the DVD and watch the bank robbery opening over and over again.

Posted on May 23, 2012May 24, 2012 by philippajayfry 0

what happens in black and white stays in black and white

As part of the series Ten Days of Comic Book Movies.

#9: Sin City (2005)

Trade Paperback Tickets: Raise your hand if you like creepy and weird things! Stylistically, Sin City was utterly and almost unbelievably true to the comics. The visuals were impressive. Characters were very close to their original comic selves. Essentially, this movie was extremely, extremely pretty. (This was my biggest compliment for the second Matrix movie, ha.) But it still has a truly great story, drawn on from Frank Miller’s crazy, crazy brain.