Why is it being review bombed?

I believe the in-lore explanation is that the teleporter always has to be in the path of any transport. So if going from the bridge to a planet, the teleporter actually teleports you twice: once from the bridge to the teleporter buffer, and next from the buffer to the planet. The room was where the teleporter was physically located.

With improved technology later in the timeline (Discovery), they did in fact abandon the need for the teleporter room altogether.

For what it’s worth, they never did address the most fascinating aspect of teleporters: that in the future they solved the problem of how to transfer consciousness. Though the existence of Thomas Riker does raise issues that are unresolved unless you accept that either teleporters do in fact kill you or consciousness can be copied. Based on how willing people are to step into them, you would imagine it’s not the former.

After I watched this when it came up in my YouTube feed today, I went back and rewatched a couple of the older “Fuck You, It’s January” videos. They were so pessimistic, and yet it’s somehow only gotten worse. It really feels like the wheels are coming off on film and television.

With the exception of a handful of series like Only Murders in the Building, I don’t watch much new TV anymore. Since I’ve watched just about everything I’m interested in over the years, I’ve actually just started going backwards. It’ll take me years to get through, but I’m up to shows from the late 1980s to early '90s now that I either missed the first time around or caught episodically and out of order. I’m halfway through Quantum Leap, and although there are hokey episodes here and there, the quality of the writing is generally pretty strong. A well-crafted, strongly humanist anthology series doesn’t really seem like the kind of thing that would ever get greenlit these days.

It’s a wonderful show and I highly recommend it.

Too bad they’re trying to invent an unnecessary second season instead of filming the second book, Tai-Pan. It’s about Western trading companies in Hong Kong at the beginning of China’s so-called century of humiliation that followed the first opium war.

I can’t get the vibe of this movie. Is it “W” or is it “Bohemian Rhapsody”? Or, god forbid, “Reagan”?

What a voice, what a life. Sad to see him go.

It’s based entirely on the appendices from The Lord of the Rings, so for legal reasons anything that was in The Silmarillion but not the appendices had to be altered.

I haven’t watched the second season, but I remember more than one sigh during the first one. I really liked the costumes and decoration, but I just kept thinking, “Why did they need to tell this story?” I didn’t hate it, but I thought the entire exercise was pointless and unnecessary: apathy is worse than hate.

The question is rhetorical, of course. They couldn’t get ahold of the rights to the Silmarillion, and the machine hungers.

I wonder if they include the conversation between Reagan and Nixon where Reagan called black people “monkeys.”

Or the Lee Atwater quote where he talks about his strategic use of dog whistles and starts it off by saying the N-word three times.

Man, Reagan sucked.

Martin is a character-first writer, which is nice, but I also like plots that gallop forward with mystery-style page turners at the end of every chapter. Roger Zelazny is that style of writer, and one of my favorites. Take a look at The Chronicles of Amber and Lord of Light.

The Dying Earth series is fun.

A friend recently recommended The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Sharing Knife to me, but I have yet to read those.

Just move on. He owes you nothing. There are plenty of great fantasy series out there that are well-written and complete if you need something to read.

I found Alien: Covenant to be utterly forgettable. I didn’t like Prometheus, and I didn’t like the direction Scott was trying to take the series (I didn’t need or want this backstory), but at least it was trying to do something interesting. Covenant and Romulus don’t. They’re just retreads. That said, the characters are stupid and underdeveloped in all three.

People were disappointed by Resurrection back in the day (saw it in the theater), but I can respect it because it has some scenes that have stuck with me my entire life, even though I haven’t watched it since. And it has some strong characters, and a plot that at least kind of makes sense.

If you want to watch an Alien movie, watch the first two. If you absolutely must watch more, go ahead and watch the third and fourth movies. If you still need to watch more, don’t.

The Force Awakens of the Alien series. Take that as you will

What if we don’t mangle a classic Johnny Cash song for some throwaway blockbuster?

Oh my god, it’s 20 years old?!

It was such an unfortunate decision to cancel Lower Decks. I really liked that show.

Halo tried to do its own thing and had mixed results at best, but I did think it was on a much firmer footing in season two than season one. Another season and they might have righted the ship completely.

Look at just about any science fiction show: aside from some notable exceptions, the first season or two are generally terrible until they get their feet under them.

Not cool to down vote for having a different opinion

tl;dr Important leader in screenwriter unionization, wrote many movies you’ve likely never heard of from the 1930s to '50s, but many of her movies sound like they had a feminist streak (or at least a woman’s perspective) quite ahead of the time.

Her most successful creation was the Maisie series, starring Ann Sothern as the title character. Lucille Ball called Sothern “the best comedienne in the business,” and the series ran for 10 movies. They must’ve done something right.

I really appreciate how fully realized the characters are, but the gore and gross-out elements, the just generally stressful situations, the flippant attitude toward humiliation, and the dystopian attitude toward death make the show a tolerance watch for me. I’ll watch the next season, I think it will be worth watching as always, and I enjoy the commentary. I just don’t think that I could say I’ll enjoy watching it as I normally use that word.

As a reminder, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is nearly 62 years old.