Robotech, In Brief: Daydreamer
“What do you mean, you’d rather have stayed on that ship?”
“That’s precisely what I mean, Angelo. That ship is where I belong.”
“You’d probably be dead now. Did that occur to you?”
“I’m aware of that. In fact, that’s exactly my point.”
“WHAT?!”
“Can’t you see it? A hero’s funeral. A golden opportunity for you to display those wonderful emotions of yours, weeping for a fallen comrade and all that.”
Robotech, In Brief: Crisis Point
“I can’t take any more of this. Please, tell me who I am, Musica. Why is my mind so full of nightmares like this?”
“You are Zor Prime, a clone of the first Robotech Master.”
“What? What are you saying?”
“Stop it, Zor! You mustn’t ask me for any more! They’ll deprogram you if they think you know too much!”
Doctor Who, Eleven For Eleven: The Girl Who Waited
“I got old, Rory. What did you think was going to happen?”
“Hey, I don’t care that you got old! I care that we didn’t grow old together.”
In which one of the turns of phrase the show smugly pats itself on the back for is co-opted for a bit of glum drama in which an old lady spends twenty-some-odd minutes grumbling and snarling at her two dearest friends and acting as a bit of a plot obstacle. There are certainly things to recommend “The Girl Who Waited,” like the fantastic scenic design both spare and lush, standout performances from the two regulars who AREN’T Matt Smith, and some nifty slow-motion swordplay. It also affords us another deeper look at the characters of Rory and Amy, why they’re together, and how deeply they care for one another. Really, you put all this together and it’s clearly a very good episode. It just doesn’t strike me as one I’d be fired up to revisit any time soon; there’s no clever hook, there’s no moment that got punching the air. I admire the hell out of it, and the ending is punch-to-the-gut painful in the best dramatic fashion, but I don’t see myself watching and rewatching it the way I’ve already done with “The Doctor’s Wife” and “A Good Man Goes To War.” Then again, I do find myself liking it more on the second watch — I’m writing this as I make my way through it the second time — so this may change. Certainly I see myself watching this a third time over giving “Let’s Kill Hitler” its second proper viewing. As always, spoilers follow. Read more »
Doctor Who, Eleven For Eleven: Night Terrors
“You’re supposed to be a professional! I’ll never get him to sleep now! You’re so — irresponsible!”
“No, Alex. Responsible, very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there’s something else, something I’ve missed, something … staring me in the face.”
This week, the Doctor gets a distress call from a young boy named George who’s terrified that monsters are going to get him. All his life, his parents have been putting the things that frighten him into his cupboard. Given that it seems that everything frightens George, that’s got to be one full cupboard. So the Doctor drops in and has two tricks to pull off: first, win the trust of George’s dad, Alex, and second, figure out what’s in the cupboard and how to deal with it. A relatively straightforward little DOCTOR WHO adventure, just the sort of thing to rinse out the bad taste “Let’s Kill Hitler” left in my mouth. I think it says something that I couldn’t even fathom sitting through “Let’s Kill Hitler” a second time but I’ve watched “Night Terrors” twice. I could probably sit through it a third time. It’s no great shakes, but it’s a satisfying forty-two minutes of Matt Smith being charmingly eccentric and director Richard Clark shooting the eerie hell out of one of Mark Gatiss’s better DOCTOR WHO scripts. Again, spoilers follow. Read more »
Robotech, In Brief: Dana In Wonderland
“Please do not feel badly. You are freedom, and my life means nothing.”
Robotech, In Brief: Mind Games
“… understand that the better we perform our mission, the better this planet’s hope for survival. I wish I could remember more than I do, but one thing I do remember: I was much less than a human being while under the control of the Robotech Masters. I want to destroy them now, to make sure that I will never be like that again.“
Robotech, In Brief: The Hunters
“I don’t need you anymore, Dana.”
“I’m not going! I’ll bet I’m good at building machinery, even better than you are!”
“Your motivation is self-centered, not like a true genius.”
“Listen, Louie, you’re not much better than I am, you know.”
“Ah, but you see, Lieutenant, I just like machines, period. Machines can be made to do anything that humans can’t do. Someday I’ll make a machine that enhances life by supplementing all human inadequacies, thereby creating an ideal society.”
“Well, what do you know! You’re such a romantic.”
Robotech, In Brief: Love Song
“There’s something about people happily in love that just makes me want to scream sometimes.“
Doctor Who, Eleven For Eleven: Let’s Kill Hitler
“More guilt! Come on, there must be someone left in the universe I haven’t screwed up yet!”
Interesting, mostly fun, a little bit disappointing but a lot surprising: that’s how I’d describe “Let’s Kill Hitler,” the mid-season premiere of DOCTOR WHO’s thirty-second proper season-slash-series. After a cute opening that introduces an obnoxious new character who seems strangely familiar, the TARDIS crew winds up going along with the plan outlined in the title, only to get things a bit wrong and get sidetracked by some very classic-WHO-on-a-good-budget sci-fi stuff that’s wandering around World War II-era Berlin, as well as the resolution of some of the lingering business from the spring. That’s one thing I didn’t really expect: some closure. As always, spoilers follow. Read more »
Vlog 07.10.2011 – A Rose-Tinted Funk
I’m tired, I’m rambling, and I’m in a weird funk right now. The weather’s gotten warm, and the apartment’s warmer than it is outside. I worry what it’d feel like in here if it were as hot as it is in my old stomping grounds of Southeast Kansas; it’s consistently been 100+ for the past several days. And as you can probably tell just going back and watching the YouTube channel, I’ve been in this reflective mood, spending a lot of time thinking back about where I’ve been and what I’ve done; it winds up being a tour of all the toys I’ve owned and the cartoons I’ve watched, since I steadfastly refused to grow up in my teenage years. But this week I’ve hit upon a theory as to why the childish end of geek culture keeps on keeping on with this generation.
I also spend a few minutes grousing about what little I heard happened at the Robotech panel at Anime Expo. I read a write-up of the panel by some dude I’d never heard of and, while I was at work one day, watched a little bit of Steve introducing one of the new tracks from the shoulda-would-coulda-been-the-25th-Anniversary soundtrack on YouTube from my phone. I also caught a snippet of what I presume to be the latest panel presentation footage from the new animation project which, based on what I could make out, actually looks pretty snazzy. I am so hoping this stupid thing winds up being cool and worthwhile. I seriously hope the last Robotech project Carl Macek’s name is attached to doesn’t suck. I swear, if it does, if this thing winds up being as half-baked as The Shadow Chronicles …
I don’t even want to think about that.
As I say at the end of the video, here’s hoping next week I’m in a better mood.
