Now you’ve got me thinking about this evening – listening to music with a nice glass of red
Andy
Just posting here for Steven’s visibility.
I listened to episode zero of your new Ancient Geeks podcast, and it was great!
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising because we are close to the same age, but it was quite interesting the amount of overlap you both had with my experience growing up. The only real difference was the emphasis. For example, I would only occasionally read comics but was never really into them – my focus was more on tabletop RPGs, board games, and video games. Cleaning out some old boxes last year, I found a few Traveller books, for instance, which brought back some memories.
You mentioned a lot of stuff I hadn’t thought about in decades. You are both right that a lot of the stuff we watched back then was really terrible, even if I enjoyed it at the time. I have a general policy of not rewatching some of the shows and movies I liked from the 70’s and 80’s because I’m certain they won’t age well and would ruin my memory of them. For instance, I really liked the Salvage 1 TV show at the time, just for the idea of how cool it would be to make your own spaceship.
I think the only things I didn’t hear you mention that I remember were Zardoz and Flash Gordon (with Queen soundtrack) and the Terry Gilliam movies (I loved Time Bandits when it came out, for instance). Maybe it doesn’t qualify as geek, but I’d guess you both were probably also fans of Monty Python.
@Andy: I am so glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate the comment!
All of the stuff you mentioned fits, and I am sure that we will cover, if not all, of it. I used to have Traveller and wish I had kept a lot my old RPG stuff!
One thing about TV shows, especially when 20-30 eps per season were the norm, is that even a badly done show will have some good eps. And viceversa.
I thought a lot about old shows I recall watching, and other than original Trek* and the original Galactica, I can’t quite remember a single whole episode. Just bits and pieces of some.
*Trek may be tainted due to having caught syndication in the 80s and 90s, and later on streaming.
I kept a lot of stuff for years, but when it became clear my kids weren’t interested, I sold all of it. My oldest son does play a lot of Magic the Gathering and some other games and usually spends an evening each week at the local games story playing, so I feel I’ve passed the torch as best as I possibly could.
That’s definitely true and I miss that. I think it allowed the shows to take more risks and try creative new things. Shows today with 8-10 episodes seem to be more like the mini-series – on a rail when it comes to the plot – which comes with some tradeoffs.
One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Star Trek Strange New Worlds is that it has an overarching plot, but it has taken some fun diversions. My family particularly loves the musical episode, for example.
I’d argue that Discovery had five episodes and not five seasons. Picard had three eps, Prodigy 2 so far. In contrast both Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds have had many eps.
Babylon 5, the standard for an arc show, had room for filler and semi-comedic eps*, even when some of these pushed the story along. One of the worst eps. “Gray 17 Is Missing,” is also the one where Delenn gets named Entil’Zha, and Marcus fights Neroon to keep him from interfering with the succession.
It also had the opportunity to fill in some backstory, both of the arc plot and characters, with eps like “GROPOS”.
*I’m trying to remember what else happened in the ep where they set up a gift shop in the station. I recall some of the best moments. Like Londo complaining the doll made in his image lacks “attributes.” Or Ivanova complaining B5 has a mission that stands for something and isn’t just some “deep Space franchise.”
Comments
7 responses to “A Photo for Friday”
Yummy!
Seriously nice still life. Nice macro focusing.
Now you’ve got me thinking about this evening – listening to music with a nice glass of red
Just posting here for Steven’s visibility.
I listened to episode zero of your new Ancient Geeks podcast, and it was great!
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising because we are close to the same age, but it was quite interesting the amount of overlap you both had with my experience growing up. The only real difference was the emphasis. For example, I would only occasionally read comics but was never really into them – my focus was more on tabletop RPGs, board games, and video games. Cleaning out some old boxes last year, I found a few Traveller books, for instance, which brought back some memories.
You mentioned a lot of stuff I hadn’t thought about in decades. You are both right that a lot of the stuff we watched back then was really terrible, even if I enjoyed it at the time. I have a general policy of not rewatching some of the shows and movies I liked from the 70’s and 80’s because I’m certain they won’t age well and would ruin my memory of them. For instance, I really liked the Salvage 1 TV show at the time, just for the idea of how cool it would be to make your own spaceship.
I think the only things I didn’t hear you mention that I remember were Zardoz and Flash Gordon (with Queen soundtrack) and the Terry Gilliam movies (I loved Time Bandits when it came out, for instance). Maybe it doesn’t qualify as geek, but I’d guess you both were probably also fans of Monty Python.
Anyway, I plan to continue to listen!
@Andy: I am so glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate the comment!
All of the stuff you mentioned fits, and I am sure that we will cover, if not all, of it. I used to have Traveller and wish I had kept a lot my old RPG stuff!
@Andy:
One thing about TV shows, especially when 20-30 eps per season were the norm, is that even a badly done show will have some good eps. And viceversa.
I thought a lot about old shows I recall watching, and other than original Trek* and the original Galactica, I can’t quite remember a single whole episode. Just bits and pieces of some.
*Trek may be tainted due to having caught syndication in the 80s and 90s, and later on streaming.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I kept a lot of stuff for years, but when it became clear my kids weren’t interested, I sold all of it. My oldest son does play a lot of Magic the Gathering and some other games and usually spends an evening each week at the local games story playing, so I feel I’ve passed the torch as best as I possibly could.
@Kathy:
That’s definitely true and I miss that. I think it allowed the shows to take more risks and try creative new things. Shows today with 8-10 episodes seem to be more like the mini-series – on a rail when it comes to the plot – which comes with some tradeoffs.
One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Star Trek Strange New Worlds is that it has an overarching plot, but it has taken some fun diversions. My family particularly loves the musical episode, for example.
@Andy:
I’d argue that Discovery had five episodes and not five seasons. Picard had three eps, Prodigy 2 so far. In contrast both Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds have had many eps.
Babylon 5, the standard for an arc show, had room for filler and semi-comedic eps*, even when some of these pushed the story along. One of the worst eps. “Gray 17 Is Missing,” is also the one where Delenn gets named Entil’Zha, and Marcus fights Neroon to keep him from interfering with the succession.
It also had the opportunity to fill in some backstory, both of the arc plot and characters, with eps like “GROPOS”.
*I’m trying to remember what else happened in the ep where they set up a gift shop in the station. I recall some of the best moments. Like Londo complaining the doll made in his image lacks “attributes.” Or Ivanova complaining B5 has a mission that stands for something and isn’t just some “deep Space franchise.”