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joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Serial Experiments Lain. The story of a hyperfragmented, hypercapitalist corporate hellscape where everyone (even schoolkids) are carrying around a 24/7-internet-connected pocket computer that they mainly use to shitpost and gossip.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I keep seeing people here talking about some Andor TV series, but I have never once heard them mention Commander Shran. What's the deal with that?

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 month ago

This woman is fearless.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I watched Babylon 5: The Road Home.

Spoiler-free thoughts:

You'll never look at a pair of blue socks the same way again.

This is very good. This is JMS putting in 100%. He is in peak form on the script. If you're a B5 fan and have been ambivalent about watching it, have no fears. It'll make you smile, cry, rejoice, despair, grin, smirk, think, and feel. It is peak B5. It's basically a love story, and fans of the show will know exactly whose love story I mean. The ending feels so right and so earned. The opening voiceover is amazing. The station looks gorgeous. The music is flawless.

This is not a phone-in by any of the returning actors providing voices. Obviously some recasting had to be done as half the live-action main cast have passed away.

Bruce Boxleitner returns to voice John Sheridan, and he is killing it. This wasn't "aging actor can't sound like they used to". From the instant you hear his voice you totally buy that this is genuinely Sheridan. And Bruce puts the same drive and emotion and slightly-nerdy-goofy vibe into the character as he always did.

Claudia Christian returns as our favourite slightly-snarky slightly-cynical always-ready Ivanova. And it's another blowout performance. You're not hearing Christian in a sound booth, you're hearing God Herself.

Peter Jurasik also returns as Londo, and my god he is every bit as good at reprising the role convincingly as Boxleitner and Christian. And not only are you hearing genuine Londo, but JMS is just as good at writing him as he was during the original show. Londo, Sheridan, and Ivanova are in a tragically comedic scene later on and every single line is convincing.

Patricia Tallman comes back as our snark-hiding-a-heart-of-gold resident telepath. She doesn't get much screen time but she makes the most of it. Same for Bill Mumy as Lennier, and Tracy Scoggins as Captain Lochley. I actually liked Lochley as a character in season 5, I think she did a fine job both then and now.

No major complaints on the recast voice actors except maybe Marcus. He just sounded too stiff. Marcus is supposed to sound way more casual even in tense situations. Fortunately he has very few lines.

JMS wisely showed a lot of restraint in nostalgia callbacks. They're there, but they're subtle.

The animation style took me a bit of getting used to, but I soon started enjoying it as its own style. Movements look realistic, characters look like they should, facial expressions are spot-on. Londo looks extremely Londo.

spoilerJMS actually pulled off a multiverse story that feels like it works in the context of B5's established metaphysical/magical/spiritual stuff. It was long established in the series that time/reality shenanigans can happen, this doesn't feel like jumping on superhero-movie bandwagons. And that last conversation between Delenn and John is very sweet. It works both as a sequel hook or as a nice "and they lived happily ever after" story too.

The moment that I saw John proudly going sockless rather than use socks that aren't his lucky blue socks, then the later reveal that Delenn had them all along, I smiled because I knew that JMS still understood John and Delenn as individuals and as a couple. John's "surprise them with the unexpected third option" approach, Delenn's subtle impish sense of humour, and the banter between them. That's truly them.

The copyright joke fell flat to me. But it's just a few seconds in an otherwise solid script.

The Shadows are terrifying again. Obviously their depiction here is what JMS always wanted to do but couldn't on a 1990s TV budget.

I liked that they didn't bring back everyone even when that's tempting for nostalgia reasons. Especially the conversation with the universe(?)-entity at the end. I would have rolled my eyes if it was Kosh or Lorien in disguise. I like that JMS left it unexplained (for now).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

But meeting people where they're at is also really important. Reading to people or teaching direct courses on things like civics, labour organizing, or community defense have also been really successful strategies.

This! Lenin didn't lock himself in a room for his entire career and limit himself to academic jargon, he went out to the streets and the factories and he spoke to workers directly. We need the academics certainly. But meeting the people where they are both physically and linguistically is vital.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

It's the beginning of the end!

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (10 children)

This is why I believe that we need to be on tiktok and youtube way more than we are. They're the new public square. Get people interested in communism via short form video, leveraging righteous anger and comedy both. Once they're hooked, then send them blog post links.

If Lenin were alive today I firmly believe that he would be on tiktok constantly - and that he'd be amazing at it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Anything by the Birthday Massacre. Zero swears, zero crude sex references, but massive amounts of pure distilled existential dread. Example.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Good news! Climate change plus crappy or nonexistent HVAC systems are going to thin out the elderly population in institutional facilities pretty quick.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

In regret I won't be able to watch the first few episodes due to work schedule, but I look forward to infodumping and needlessly nitpicking because space is my special interest and I am very much into my unmasking arc.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

geordi-no "Bukkake".

geordi-yes "Baby shower".

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago

Of course the obvious result is that more children will simply go missing after being murdered by their SAer.

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