Techwright

Season 2, episode 7 - "The Clone Conspiracy" Back on track with the main storyline (sort of). Disney+ dropped 2 episodes on us today, probably due to the 8th being the mid-season point. I'm watching the two separately and commenting on each separately as a result. Episode 7 marks a strong comeback to the main storyline, and it is notably more intense than the previous three episodes. It features the return of a fan-favorite character from The Clone Wars, more dialog from a certain villain character than I can ever remember them having, and short appearances by a couple of long-standing favorites. Oddly, they apparently decided to take a page from The Book of Boba Fett, and what the episode does not have are the title characters. It does appear to be telling a long set-up story for their next action, however. Spoiler talk:

Just started playing the free survival game Arid. Other than the fact that my character has the jumping/climbing ability of a legless horse and at times seems to have their eye level set to that of a hobbit's, I'm quite enjoying it so far.

The movie wasn't a total loss. Having Marian back was a blast, and having Cate Blanchett as the villain was great. The mini documentary on surviving an atomic blast with only temporary disorientation by hiding in refrigerators was quite useful as well. No more Burt the Turtle with "duck and cover", and no need for expensive survival rooms buried in the back yard.

Never heard of it, but looking it over, it seems very interesting.

It's Lucasfilms, so it's also Disney. Do you think they're going to let that cash cow go to pasture? I can see a few years off, but I can't see Disney letting go of Indiana Jones permanently. There's one possibility that might allow them to have cake and eat it too: introduce a new Indy actor, but also retain Ford. Kind of like Leonard Nimoy in 2009's Star Trek reboot. In the case of Indy, there's the major point in the TV show The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (which I'll call "soft canon" though it was originally intended as canon, I'm told), that the stories of his past are told by a 90-year-old Indy. Translated to the movies, that might allow Harrison Ford to take on the old storyteller mantel, while introducing his replacement. Depending on Ford's health and, well, continued existence, they might be able to squeeze out a couple of films with this motif. There is a theory out there that Indy's goddaughter in this film will be the focus of an Indy-like series of films going forward, though I'm not sure if the 1970s as a setting will hold the mystique and storytelling potential of the Nazi-era 1930s and 40s. I for one might be interested in early Cold War-era films surrounding Short Round, Indy's kid sidekick in Temple of Doom. It could bring an Asian lead to the larger Indy-verse and might focus on stories in Asia or the entire Pacific. I'm merely guessing where S.R. ended up, since he's not mentioned again. (I'd really like a cameo or some reference to him in this final film.)

Vidiotmaps and a few sound mods, mostly to temper or block annoying sounds thought a few I use to enhance or change a sound.

Wood you say you...staked...out a place? I say, is that the exit? *Heads stage left*

I'd have eliminated War Walls. I know the game necessity for having them but they make no lore sense. First they are walls on the scale of dams. Dams that take years and years to build properly. These supposedly went up in short order in the middle of a short but powerful war. Second, we're fighting an opponent that can fly. One that had an active mothership as well. And we build massive concrete walls. That's like creating the barrel to shoot fish in. Second, I'd do a better job writing the rest of the world into the story. I realize the game's name is defining, but that didn't have to be so in the beginning. No city is an island unto itself (Even Praetoria has several islands.). While we do have the Rogue Islands as "elsewhere" and we have stories that reference other places, I'd have like to have seen a better integration into the state, the region, the country, and the world at large. We could have had task forces that of necessity sent us to London , or Cairo, or Ayers Rock for that matter, to deal with something that would have grave consequences for Paragon City if left unchecked. for that matter the current lore states that the invasion was global in its scope. We should have seen more of the fallout from that. I'd also have written a clearer history of the heroes and villains. I've managed to piece together bits here and there, but even with the plaques and markers, I'm left feeling a bit disjointed. I pointed out in another thread some time ago there's some seemingly contradictory information on those plaques about the timeline of Mayor Spanky for example.

Enough to open a lunch counter Got an low sodiu...uuuh, wait a second...isn't SPAM supposed to be pink? That stuff looks like tofu.

While I could see it, and he'd be good, I think that would fall under @ThaOGDreamWeaver's comments about filling the role with one who always plays the same parts. Beside, I've hope against hope that someone will realize that Pratt could be the next Indiana Jones. I realize that hope hangs by a thread finer than spider silk, but maybe this is the world in the multiverse where it happens. 😉 Cena - I still am not past the images of him suiting up in a battleframe suit portraying one of the main characters of the failed game Firefall (which the game didn't fail, the owners did. The game was glorious until the new ownership gutted it). Cena had been hired to promote the game while it was still in early beta. If he's lucky, no pictures still exist, though I've not checked the Wayback machine. Blue Beetle - I'm open to the possibilities. But what I don't want to see is Jaime Reyes as some "Yakky Duck" character running a motor mouth of shock at the battlesuit's antics. Yes there will be discord between the two, but it can be handled with better writing choices. Aquaman 2 & Flash - I'm wondering how much the off-screen antics of stars in these two will hurt their performance. There's not been a lot of love for Amber Heard since the court case, and well, you already mentioned Ezra's ...um...situation. As to whether this new DCU will succeed or not, well, it has always been the same thing in every franchise: the script has got to be outstanding first and foremost. Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for example, had the right stars and the best special effects money could buy at the time. What success it had, though, came from fans desires to see anything Star Trek back on the screen. It was a tepid film otherwise. The real powerhouse was The Wrath of Khan, and it was so because it had a humdinger of a script as foundation. This is not a new concept, but Hollywood seems to keep forgetting how crucial it is. I could watch a movie with paper-mache monsters, cheezy spandex costumes, and good but unknown actors in the lead roles if the script were powerful. The rest is icing. Icing is important to the cake, but it is not foundational. DC will need to figure this out like Marvel did in phases 1 to 3. (Marvel might need to rediscover it in parts of their franchise as well.)

Actually, at 51 years of age, I think I'd rather see Nathan Fillion go live action as Hal Jordan, a character he's voiced repeatedly in the animated works. Don't do Hal's origin story except perhaps in a brief flashback. Make Hal the presiding Green Lantern for years now, and introduce Jon Stewart and any of the other Earth-born Lanterns as a second wave in the movie. Sort of like the MCU taking the Hank Pym character and making him older than the cast of characters he traditionally hangs with in the comics. This has the potential down the road of allowing Fillion to play both the hero and villain sides of the character with as much grit as he brought to Mal in the more intense moments of Serenity. Hal can be funny at times too, though I'd rather them not take that to the degree that was done in the 2011 movie. I do agree though that Nathan has the personality to play Booster Gold. So does frequent collaborator Alan Tudyk for that matter. But I feel like B.G. should be a younger character. His vanity and inexperience suggest it. I know Mark Strong always wanted to play Sinestro again, and if he's fit enough for the part at 59 years of age, I say give it to him. I very much would like to see a strong Jon Stewart. Michael B. Jordan springs to mind for the role, though maybe that's typecasting seeing his Marvel character was also special forces? Momoa feels almost right for Lobo. Maybe 80 to 85%. Lobo comes across much more brash and boisterous than I've ever seen Momoa, though I've not seen all his body of work. Perhaps I'm still thinking of him too much in terms of his Stargate: Atlantis character. But then, is that the type of challenge actors relish? Creating a character that is different than perhaps the stock characters they've been known for? I'm pleased that they've put Booster Gold up in the first wave of the reboot. I really wish they'd do The Question, too, though. I still have one burning question: When are they going to make an Ambush Bug film? DC needs an answer to Deadpool. 😛

Season 2, Episode 6 - "Tribe" Okay, after two mostly stand-alone episodes we're somewhat back on track, maybe not in the overall arc of Bad Batch, but in the greater arc of Star Wars in general.

I've been blessed to miss these little events...so far...*raps knuckles on antique desk*... I'm curious though. Some of the comments have me thinking some of you believe that a person is doing this. I've seen other forums invaded like this, years back admittedly, that were chalked up solely to bot action. The creators that set them loose were probably unaware of which forums they'd infected. Is that what's happening here or is there some giveaway that clearly suggests deliberate human targeting of these forums? If it's humans, they're a sorry lot. It's not like we have scads of people to manipulate into buying things. Targetting forums with a million members plus seems more advantageous to their goals.

Well, ya, if the critter ate 75 pounds of the stuff as @Luminara noted, I'm surprised it didn't OD long before that. 75 pounds is enough to sink a pod of blue whales, maybe a few pods.

You've an interesting take on COH. What would you say would be needed by any future MMO, regardless of the subject theme, to achieve such a connection with the player?

Possible address to the concerns:

No idea. Resistance was painfully slow to me, but it was mostly due to bad writing and highly annoying main characters. UPDATE: Okay, I went and watched reactions as they trickled in to YouTube (I've never seen such a slow crawl before), and I now understand that this episode may have had greater depth in the full context of Star Wars than I initially realized.

I excused last season's fluff as an unfortunate effect of the scramble in the film industry caused by COVID and the uncertainties it brought. I mean, even Rhea Perlman's voice acting sounded distinct and separate from the others, like she recorded it in the safety of her basement in a homemade sound cubical. That's not present this season, and the first 3 episodes were very strong. I'm puzzled therefore why they're sinking back towards their first season pattern. Especially as Dave Filoni is helming this. He had a few toss-away episodes in The Clone Wars, but not many. This one felt more like an episode of Star Wars: Resistance, an animation I've noticed people are reluctant to bring up again, and for good reason. I'm not tossing the season out for 2 lesser episodes, but they do need to get their drive in gear.

Oh, Shada. Yes, even on this side of the Pond I heard about it many years back, though I didn't know much about the plot or characters. I didn't know someone animated it to finish up. Good for them!

I've seen some of the early reviewers suggest that. It might make for an interesting side story, we'll see. I hate to say it, but even as a dedicated fan of all things Fett-clone, I have to say this felt like a pointless filler episode. Some of the dialog was noticeably sub-par, especially when compared to the first three episodes of the season. I hope they're more careful going forward. If they don't return to the standard those first three set, they'll likely lose previously-consistent viewers. That said, I can see some long-term redemption via a few points:

Which is why 14 has to keep mum about which version he really is. If she doesn't know he's the third of a new set of generations, then she's left thinking he's 10. She does know that 10 bled off a regeneration to extend his own existence.

I somehow missed Chronotis in my casual years of viewing Doctor Who (thanks PBS stations for repeatedly messing with the timelin...er, broadcast hours), but it sounds like a fun character. One of the things that bugged me right from the start of New Who was that, supposedly, all the Time Lords were lost to the climactic moment of the Time War, yet we had The Master who clearly was not on Gallifrey, and therefore did not share its fate. The Who universe is replete with Time Lords who've not returned to Gallifrey for centuries of their lifespan, so why not showcase more of them? Why have the Doctor moping about? I realize the events of "The Doctor's Wife" showed Eleven that many of his kind perished in a pocket universe trap, but Gallifrey is ancient, and its collective population spread across timelines must be huge. There should still be some out there. The Rani, anyone? Oh, and speaking of that episode, I'm really, really hoping that some writer will realize that, just because The Corsair has an end doesn't mean that previous incarnations of The Corsair are not jetting around the universe getting into mischief in various times. The episodes of Doctor Eleven made us realize just how crazy time travel can be. It's high time we start to see the tale of The Corsair, with the Doctor bumping into previous version of them, and having shared adventures with an old chum while having to painfully hold the secret that from his timeline's point of view, they're already dead (but avenged). I recommend actress Jaime Murray to them for one of the female versions of the Corsair. If you've seen Warehouse 13, you'll know why. Murray was fantastic as whip-smart rogue H.G. (Helena) Wells.

Wow, The Celestial Toymaker. I'd wished for a long time that we might see that character again. There is a rich history in the first 4 Doctors from which modern writers might draw inspiration. I've also hoped to see Kan'po/Cho-Je again (Timelord who left his people to be a Buddist on Earth. He aided the dying Third Doctor to regenerate), and the other big bad of the Time Lord founders, Omega. Come to think of it, did the last Doctor run into Rassilon? Because if not, he's still out there, and likely still has unlimited regenerations and a serious vendetta against the Doctor. He would have the ability to mess with Time Lord science.

I think I mentioned this before, but I'm thinking character Bo-Katan may turn out to be a tragic character on a Shakespearean scale. By all rights, she should be a hero that endures all difficulties and becomes both champion and leader of her people. But a series of difficult moments in her life appear to be influencing a negativity in her life that may destroy her. It's not unlike the slow downward spiral of a certain key Jedi who decided he'd rather be dressed in black cybernetic armor. I'm cheering for Bo-Katan, she's a very interesting character, and I hope however her story ends that it ends on a high note, but I'd not be surprised if she becomes the Othello of the Mandalorians. Also related to the series I read an interesting fan theory. I'll put it in the spoiler box just in case there's any truth to it:

The latest trailer for the Mandalorian season 3 has dropped and ...wow... so much happening. Thoughts: 1. Is it too early to title Dinn as the next Mandalore? I'm thinking maybe Mandalore the Re-uniter ("the Uniter" was already a previous Mandalore). Other possibilities: "the Reforger", "the Healer", yadda yadda. ("Mandalore" for those who don't know, was the founder and first major ruler, and his name, like Caesar's, became the title of all subsequent rulers of Mandalore.) 2. Grogu is definitely progressing, he seems to have either a wiser or harder edge to him at points, but I'm finding it hard to pin down a corresponding age in humans. Sometimes he seems like an infant still and others like a confident 10-year-old. 3. They seem to imply from the matching of the dialog to visuals that Dinn has started training Grogu in the culture of the Mandalorians. I guess he feels Grogu's return means it's green-lighted. Of course, the trailer editor might just be tricking us and that's Dinn's comment to other Mandalorians. 4. We've got the doctor again. He seems at least an anti-hero to this point, but I'm not sure where his story is going, just that it seems to be tied to the origins of Snoke. 5. Four Jedi. Looks like we've got more of Grogu's story unfolding. I've been guessing for a while, and I truly hope his rescuer turns out to be Jocasta, the Jedi archivist. I'll accept Quinlan Vos, though I'm not sure why the Force-powered tracker would be at the Temple. He's always been more comfortable in the field. I sat down a couple years back and compiled a list of all known Jedi survivors, and there were around a dozen. That number has been reduced with some death confirmations over the last year's worth of projects. It could still be one of the others like council member Oppo Rancisis, the snake-like master Jedi. We've heard nothing about him. Whomever the rescuer was, they, or the person(s) they turned Grogu over to, went to great lengths to hide him and develop a large protective force around him. 6. Katie Sackhoff is suspiciously absent from this trailer. I wonder what is going on/what happened to Bo Katan? TIE fighters going after a Mandalorian ship: is that Bo trying to survive the First Order? 7. Not sure what that last monster was. Looked a bit like a Talz, though they don't strike me as vicious. 8. Rather disturbing image of fighting Mandalorians pushing forward towards an unseen enemy and stepping around what appears to be a small dais or raised firepit where the ashes and armor of many of their brethren lay. Looks like the big Vizla is leading the charge. Intersperse throughout the trailer are shots of the alien Niktos battling ...someone...and I suspect it is the Mandalorians. If so this suggests that Palpatine turned Mandaloria over to the Hutt gangster clans, which often use Niktos.