This is the worst thing Sisko’s ever done.
This episode is even more meaningful when you find out that Max Grodénchik, the actor who played Rom, was the best baseball player in the cast of Deep Space Nine. He played semi-pro before becoming an actor and had to throw with his non-dominant hand during filming because it was otherwise physically impossible for him to pretend he’s the worst baseball player.
The Tragedy of Weyoun the Fifth
The Tragedy of Weyoun the Fifth
Dr. Bashir makes a new friend and is very excited to tell his coworkers about “plain, simple Garak”.
This clip was upscaled to HD with Topaz Video Enhance AI. I should have the entire first season of DS9 available sometime tomorrow. Season 4 is available now!
Dr. Bashir makes a new friend and is very excited to tell his coworkers about “plain, simple Garak”.
This clip was upscaled to HD with Topaz Video Enhance AI. I should have the entire first season of DS9 available sometime tomorrow. Season 4 is available now!
Far Cry Primal
dev. Ubisoft Montreal (2016)
I wanted to wander around an environment alongside mammoths and this game provided that in spades. I spent so much time just contemplating in big meadows full of gentle, giant mammoths. On the flip side, it’s a survival horror game? But saber-tooth cats instead of zombies. Now it’s one of my favorite video games. It’s an entry in a long-running series of first-person shooters I otherwise don’t care about. And this game definitely gives me ‘standard AAA bland shooter’ vibes in its structure and narrative. They just created a fascinating world around that. One of the interesting bits of the game is everyone speaks in recreated primal languages. The one bit of English is lyrics in a song that appears toward the end of the game and it’s so jarring to hear in contrast to the rest. I was impressed that Ubisoft invested in that level of authenticity but really got into it. It always bugs me when a game or movie uses weird accented English in place of the native language. I found this article series from the historical linguist they worked with to craft the languages and dialogue. Pretty fascinating deep dive.
Star Wars: Republic Commando dev.
(2005)
LucasArts released many Star Wars video games in the period around the prequel movies. 2005 saw the release of this game and Battlefront II, the latter of which is perhaps more popular for its online multiplayer component. I tried the single player of that game and it doesn’t compare to Republic Commando. This game’s focus on working together with a squad of surprisingly smart A.I.-controlled comrades makes it feel more intentional where many shooters seem to want to throw enemies for the sake of providing bullet sponges. Make no mistake, this is still a shooter and the player is still mowing down hordes of aliens. It’s just smarter about how it sets up those combat encounters. The player can only progress by successfully guiding squad mates around the battlefield. I enjoyed the game and was surprised to see it that it was rather short, starting at the Battle of Geonosis and ending just before the tragic Order 66 moment that so many heroes of the prequel era have to contend with. The game never received a sequel so I have to assume the squad sadly goes on to fulfill their mission. This is also compelling for providing an early look at the inner lives of the literal carbon copy clone army, something that Clone Wars would fully expound upon just a few years later.
Cabin Boy dir. Adam Resnick (1994)
All the movies I watched this month were through communal viewings on an app called Kast. It’s been fun to have no say in the movies that are selected, trusting someone else to make interesting choices. This first one was a strange, weirdly referential movie. It builds upon old timey sailor epics and Harryhausen stop-motion adventures to deliver a screwball comedy more in line with Pee Wee Herman than any of its inspirations. It stars Chris Elliott and I know of his work and have seen a few of his roles, but I can see why he was never quite popular in his heyday. His comedic style is almost daring you to like his work. I still can’t say I liked it, but it was certainly interesting to see a comedy like this and with this level of practical effects in 1994.
Manos: The Hands of Fate dir. Harold P. Warren (1966)
This felt similarly interesting as Cabin Boy in that ‘what the fuck am I watching’ kind of way, but at least with Manos I knew to expect some kind of schlock. I haven’t watched the MST3K version but knew full well that it’s hoisted up on the same lofty heights as Plan 9 from Outer Space in the Worst Movie Ever rankings. The big surprise for me was that it didn’t feel like the worst movie ever made. The viewer can follow along perfectly fine, and it’s clear what they’re going for. It’s also clear the filmmaker wasn’t a filmmaker. I can’t say I enjoyed it as a horror movie as much as I enjoyed examining it while I watched. I can imagine being disappointed if this movie was taken seriously, but hindsight really makes it a fascinating artifact. We watched the restored version on blu ray and perhaps that extra visual quality helped make it just a little better than old grainy copies would have.
The Castle of Cagliostro dir. Hayao Miyazaki (1979)
So let me get this straight. Lupin III–the star of this animated movie and countless other series both in manga and animated form–is usually an unlikeable pile of garbage? And this one movie where Miyazaki wisely makes him a hero is a source of complaints by fans who want the garbage version? That’s my understanding. It makes me want to not watch anything else with Lupin III in it. Castle of Cagliostro is still a product of its time and the whole ordeal is about the hero saving the damsel and taking down the villain (who, by the way, is a real pile of garbage). However, it’s still charming and Lupin’s intentions kind of clear up as the movie goes on. He’s more akin to Han Solo, rogue with a heart of gold. The movie’s notoriety is clearly driven by the high watermark set in the art and animation. It is an astounding movie to just watch in motion. Miyazaki and co. undoubtedly near killed themselves to make this, much as they did for many of the movies to later come out of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli work. There’s a fascinating interview with Yasuo Otsuka, animator on the film, that is included on the blu ray and available online.
Star Trek: Discovery – Seasons 1 & 2 (2017-2019)
Spoiler-filled rant.
Discovery is… something. It outta be called Star Trek: Burnham. Sadly now it feels, like Picard, that they had to squeeze their arcs into seasons that needed more episodes. There’s an odd bottle episode or two where I felt like “more of this!” But I can count them on one hand. The stakes are constantly at 11. And with Discovery, the characters are good! There are so many of them who get so few lines but like, I wanna know who they are and care about them before the shit hits the fan and they upend the status quo. For example, how do you include a cool-looking cyborg to the bridge crew for two seasons and give her almost no screen time, then make a major episode about her and expect us to believe everyone’s sad when she sacrifices herself? I got real annoyed over Airiam’s fate. She should’ve gotten her own non-critical episode before that. Like the stuff with Saru and his home planet. I suppose my key problem with Discovery is that they don’t seem to understand that TNG, DS9, etc were about ALL the bridge crew, not just a couple of people. Discovery also spends a lot of time on the villains and external characters. There’s some cool characters there but it definitely pulls time from the bridge crew dynamics and camaraderie.
Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018)
Rebels was a nice series to pair in the same month as Discovery because it does exactly what I’d hoped from that series. You spend all your time getting to know the key members of the Ghost’s crew. This show skews toward a younger crowd so its motivations are simpler, but they still squeeze in some significant character-building and growth into their relatively short episodes and seasons. They also raise the stakes, but the stakes are so personal and small in the grand scheme of the Star Wars galaxy’s problems that it’s always about what’s important to this group of people there and now. There are also plenty of fan service moments and returning characters to make this a satisfying continuation of the stories and themes in Clone Wars.
Star Wars Forces of Destiny (2017-2018)
I was surprised to find these bite-sized, kid-oriented shorts even existed. I’ve lost touch with Disney’s many efforts to expand the brand and while this series certainly fits into that type of marketing-driven creative effort, it’s still a nice bit of fun with familiar characters. I’d watch these with my five year-old niece. The focus on women as the leads of these shorts sadly highlights how they need to continue to expand the scope of their lead roles beyond men (and, I think, beyond humans).
Far Cry Primal
dev. Ubisoft Montreal (2016)
I wanted to wander around an environment alongside mammoths and this game provided that in spades. I spent so much time just contemplating in big meadows full of gentle, giant mammoths. On the flip side, it’s a survival horror game? But saber-tooth cats instead of zombies. Now it’s one of my favorite video games. It’s an entry in a long-running series of first-person shooters I otherwise don’t care about. And this game definitely gives me ‘standard AAA bland shooter’ vibes in its structure and narrative. They just created a fascinating world around that. One of the interesting bits of the game is everyone speaks in recreated primal languages. The one bit of English is lyrics in a song that appears toward the end of the game and it’s so jarring to hear in contrast to the rest. I was impressed that Ubisoft invested in that level of authenticity but really got into it. It always bugs me when a game or movie uses weird accented English in place of the native language. I found this article series from the historical linguist they worked with to craft the languages and dialogue. Pretty fascinating deep dive.
Star Wars: Republic Commando dev.
(2005)
LucasArts released many Star Wars video games in the period around the prequel movies. 2005 saw the release of this game and Battlefront II, the latter of which is perhaps more popular for its online multiplayer component. I tried the single player of that game and it doesn’t compare to Republic Commando. This game’s focus on working together with a squad of surprisingly smart A.I.-controlled comrades makes it feel more intentional where many shooters seem to want to throw enemies for the sake of providing bullet sponges. Make no mistake, this is still a shooter and the player is still mowing down hordes of aliens. It’s just smarter about how it sets up those combat encounters. The player can only progress by successfully guiding squad mates around the battlefield. I enjoyed the game and was surprised to see it that it was rather short, starting at the Battle of Geonosis and ending just before the tragic Order 66 moment that so many heroes of the prequel era have to contend with. The game never received a sequel so I have to assume the squad sadly goes on to fulfill their mission. This is also compelling for providing an early look at the inner lives of the literal carbon copy clone army, something that Clone Wars would fully expound upon just a few years later.
Cabin Boy dir. Adam Resnick (1994)
All the movies I watched this month were through communal viewings on an app called Kast. It’s been fun to have no say in the movies that are selected, trusting someone else to make interesting choices. This first one was a strange, weirdly referential movie. It builds upon old timey sailor epics and Harryhausen stop-motion adventures to deliver a screwball comedy more in line with Pee Wee Herman than any of its inspirations. It stars Chris Elliott and I know of his work and have seen a few of his roles, but I can see why he was never quite popular in his heyday. His comedic style is almost daring you to like his work. I still can’t say I liked it, but it was certainly interesting to see a comedy like this and with this level of practical effects in 1994.
Manos: The Hands of Fate dir. Harold P. Warren (1966)
This felt similarly interesting as Cabin Boy in that ‘what the fuck am I watching’ kind of way, but at least with Manos I knew to expect some kind of schlock. I haven’t watched the MST3K version but knew full well that it’s hoisted up on the same lofty heights as Plan 9 from Outer Space in the Worst Movie Ever rankings. The big surprise for me was that it didn’t feel like the worst movie ever made. The viewer can follow along perfectly fine, and it’s clear what they’re going for. It’s also clear the filmmaker wasn’t a filmmaker. I can’t say I enjoyed it as a horror movie as much as I enjoyed examining it while I watched. I can imagine being disappointed if this movie was taken seriously, but hindsight really makes it a fascinating artifact. We watched the restored version on blu ray and perhaps that extra visual quality helped make it just a little better than old grainy copies would have.
The Castle of Cagliostro dir. Hayao Miyazaki (1979)
So let me get this straight. Lupin III–the star of this animated movie and countless other series both in manga and animated form–is usually an unlikeable pile of garbage? And this one movie where Miyazaki wisely makes him a hero is a source of complaints by fans who want the garbage version? That’s my understanding. It makes me want to not watch anything else with Lupin III in it. Castle of Cagliostro is still a product of its time and the whole ordeal is about the hero saving the damsel and taking down the villain (who, by the way, is a real pile of garbage). However, it’s still charming and Lupin’s intentions kind of clear up as the movie goes on. He’s more akin to Han Solo, rogue with a heart of gold. The movie’s notoriety is clearly driven by the high watermark set in the art and animation. It is an astounding movie to just watch in motion. Miyazaki and co. undoubtedly near killed themselves to make this, much as they did for many of the movies to later come out of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli work. There’s a fascinating interview with Yasuo Otsuka, animator on the film, that is included on the blu ray and available online.
Star Trek: Discovery – Seasons 1 & 2 (2017-2019)
Spoiler-filled rant.
Discovery is… something. It outta be called Star Trek: Burnham. Sadly now it feels, like Picard, that they had to squeeze their arcs into seasons that needed more episodes. There’s an odd bottle episode or two where I felt like “more of this!” But I can count them on one hand. The stakes are constantly at 11. And with Discovery, the characters are good! There are so many of them who get so few lines but like, I wanna know who they are and care about them before the shit hits the fan and they upend the status quo. For example, how do you include a cool-looking cyborg to the bridge crew for two seasons and give her almost no screen time, then make a major episode about her and expect us to believe everyone’s sad when she sacrifices herself? I got real annoyed over Airiam’s fate. She should’ve gotten her own non-critical episode before that. Like the stuff with Saru and his home planet. I suppose my key problem with Discovery is that they don’t seem to understand that TNG, DS9, etc were about ALL the bridge crew, not just a couple of people. Discovery also spends a lot of time on the villains and external characters. There’s some cool characters there but it definitely pulls time from the bridge crew dynamics and camaraderie.
Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018)
Rebels was a nice series to pair in the same month as Discovery because it does exactly what I’d hoped from that series. You spend all your time getting to know the key members of the Ghost’s crew. This show skews toward a younger crowd so its motivations are simpler, but they still squeeze in some significant character-building and growth into their relatively short episodes and seasons. They also raise the stakes, but the stakes are so personal and small in the grand scheme of the Star Wars galaxy’s problems that it’s always about what’s important to this group of people there and now. There are also plenty of fan service moments and returning characters to make this a satisfying continuation of the stories and themes in Clone Wars.
Star Wars Forces of Destiny (2017-2018)
I was surprised to find these bite-sized, kid-oriented shorts even existed. I’ve lost touch with Disney’s many efforts to expand the brand and while this series certainly fits into that type of marketing-driven creative effort, it’s still a nice bit of fun with familiar characters. I’d watch these with my five year-old niece. The focus on women as the leads of these shorts sadly highlights how they need to continue to expand the scope of their lead roles beyond men (and, I think, beyond humans).
Hogs of War dev. Infogrames Sheffield House (2000)
I played this game once, long ago, and have never forgotten it. It’s a strange experience. Do I like this game that I played briefly twenty years ago? I remembered it enough to buy a physical copy and store it on a shelf. And when I discovered I could buy a digital copy, I bought it again and finally attempted to complete it during my flights to and from Boston in February. It was too difficult, so I tried and failed again. Finally, I played an emulated copy using cheats to give myself an unlimited number of promotion points and upgrade my soldiers. I completed the game. I remain fascinated with this strange, problematic game. The gameplay is best described as Worms in 3D, but more fun than the actual attempts to make Worms in 3D. The movement is faster, and the reactive physics are key to making this a unique experience compared to other turn-based combat games. The problematic part is the comedy derived from the stereotypical depictions of anthropomorphized pig soldiers who hail from fictionalized versions of nationalities such as Japanese, French, and American. The accents in particular are… tough to get over. It’s a shame, because otherwise, the game is fun, a proper challenge, and should have been more popular than it was.
MASSIVE CHALICE dev. Double Fine Productions (2015)
I didn’t get to work on this one. I’ve worked on almost everything at Double Fine, but 2015 was a turbulent year and I left without making a mark on this release. It remained one of our few games that I hadn’t completed until last month. Having played Hogs of War, I felt encouraged to make the journey through the game and continue exploring turn-based combat. MASSIVE CHALICE is closer to XCOM than Hogs. Movement isn’t in real-time as in Hogs, but limited to moving along a certain numbers of spaces on a grid. It’s structured more like a board game. This means that the game is as it’s best when tension is high because strategy demands patience and some battles are won by the skin of one’s teeth. The player must build up generations of soldiers, choosing who fights and who helps the war machine in other areas. The elements are generated differently each time, resulting in random soldiers being born and raised, as well as random enemy and story encounters. It results in a unique story with the same conclusion every time. My playthrough was fraught with close calls and though I failed the final mission, it didn’t feel like a Game Over. I got a finale cutscene and a satisfying conclusion.
“Playdate with Destiny” dir. David Silverman (2020)
Maggie is the most neglected character on The Simpsons, and it’s always nice to see her get some attention. This animated short was a perfect example of showing instead of telling, which was a perfect challenge for an animation director. Without the need of dialogue the show typically employs, the short is free to show a sweet tale that has its funny moments.
Onward dir. Dan Scanlon (2020)
This story wasn’t quite what I expected, and the marketing certainly sets up an expectation that the creators subvert. It outlines a process in which one deals with loss by yearning for that which was lost, but failing to see what’s still here. The lesson is there as it is with all Pixar films. It hit me particularly hard as I consider my relationships to family.
The Invisible Man dir. Leigh Whannell (2020)
My expectation here was quite low. It’s a horror movie, or maybe a thriller, but I couldn’t understand the kind of terror an invisible person can inflict. The creators did a good job of demonstrating that not only is it a terrifying prospect, but technology can be contorted to reflect the worst of our instinctis.
Bloodshot dir. David S. F. Wilson (2020)
For a movie with as interesting a premise as ‘this guy can’t die,’ it sure was boring. Like the movie above, the creator of this technology is a sociopath, but his intentions are even more flimsy and realistic. He wants to get paid. Vin Diesel’s anti-hero is just as dull as his other roles. It’s worth a lazy Saturday afternoon watch at best.
The Hunt dir. Craig Zobel (2020)
I can see that they were going for some kinda commentary on liberalism in the time of Trump here, but boy does it fall flat. In spite of that, Betty Gilpin is fun to watch in the lead role. A lot of her performance is in the dips between her lines. Her looks at other characters and sort of lanky disarming of the tension. The violence is in the absurd realm of movies like those from Tarantino. I’d watch this again just for her performance.
Star Trek: Picard – Season 1 (2020)
Picard is a legend of a character, and it was nice to see him in action again. However, it’s a bit of a shock to see him and the characters from the Star Trek shows in the eighties and nineties commingling in this post-Abrams Star Trek universe. I watched the season with friends and reviews were mixed. For those who did like it, we thought it really needed more than ten episodes in a season to tell its story. Now that I’m watching Star Trek: Discovery, I can see that play out. There’s more room to breathe with fifteen episodes in their seasons. Picard has room for improvement and with another season guaranteed, I’m hoping they stabilize and add more room for their stories.
Hogs of War dev. Infogrames Sheffield House (2000)
I played this game once, long ago, and have never forgotten it. It’s a strange experience. Do I like this game that I played briefly twenty years ago? I remembered it enough to buy a physical copy and store it on a shelf. And when I discovered I could buy a digital copy, I bought it again and finally attempted to complete it during my flights to and from Boston in February. It was too difficult, so I tried and failed again. Finally, I played an emulated copy using cheats to give myself an unlimited number of promotion points and upgrade my soldiers. I completed the game. I remain fascinated with this strange, problematic game. The gameplay is best described as Worms in 3D, but more fun than the actual attempts to make Worms in 3D. The movement is faster, and the reactive physics are key to making this a unique experience compared to other turn-based combat games. The problematic part is the comedy derived from the stereotypical depictions of anthropomorphized pig soldiers who hail from fictionalized versions of nationalities such as Japanese, French, and American. The accents in particular are… tough to get over. It’s a shame, because otherwise, the game is fun, a proper challenge, and should have been more popular than it was.
MASSIVE CHALICE dev. Double Fine Productions (2015)
I didn’t get to work on this one. I’ve worked on almost everything at Double Fine, but 2015 was a turbulent year and I left without making a mark on this release. It remained one of our few games that I hadn’t completed until last month. Having played Hogs of War, I felt encouraged to make the journey through the game and continue exploring turn-based combat. MASSIVE CHALICE is closer to XCOM than Hogs. Movement isn’t in real-time as in Hogs, but limited to moving along a certain numbers of spaces on a grid. It’s structured more like a board game. This means that the game is as it’s best when tension is high because strategy demands patience and some battles are won by the skin of one’s teeth. The player must build up generations of soldiers, choosing who fights and who helps the war machine in other areas. The elements are generated differently each time, resulting in random soldiers being born and raised, as well as random enemy and story encounters. It results in a unique story with the same conclusion every time. My playthrough was fraught with close calls and though I failed the final mission, it didn’t feel like a Game Over. I got a finale cutscene and a satisfying conclusion.
“Playdate with Destiny” dir. David Silverman (2020)
Maggie is the most neglected character on The Simpsons, and it’s always nice to see her get some attention. This animated short was a perfect example of showing instead of telling, which was a perfect challenge for an animation director. Without the need of dialogue the show typically employs, the short is free to show a sweet tale that has its funny moments.
Onward dir. Dan Scanlon (2020)
This story wasn’t quite what I expected, and the marketing certainly sets up an expectation that the creators subvert. It outlines a process in which one deals with loss by yearning for that which was lost, but failing to see what’s still here. The lesson is there as it is with all Pixar films. It hit me particularly hard as I consider my relationships to family.
The Invisible Man dir. Leigh Whannell (2020)
My expectation here was quite low. It’s a horror movie, or maybe a thriller, but I couldn’t understand the kind of terror an invisible person can inflict. The creators did a good job of demonstrating that not only is it a terrifying prospect, but technology can be contorted to reflect the worst of our instinctis.
Bloodshot dir. David S. F. Wilson (2020)
For a movie with as interesting a premise as ‘this guy can’t die,’ it sure was boring. Like the movie above, the creator of this technology is a sociopath, but his intentions are even more flimsy and realistic. He wants to get paid. Vin Diesel’s anti-hero is just as dull as his other roles. It’s worth a lazy Saturday afternoon watch at best.
The Hunt dir. Craig Zobel (2020)
I can see that they were going for some kinda commentary on liberalism in the time of Trump here, but boy does it fall flat. In spite of that, Betty Gilpin is fun to watch in the lead role. A lot of her performance is in the dips between her lines. Her looks at other characters and sort of lanky disarming of the tension. The violence is in the absurd realm of movies like those from Tarantino. I’d watch this again just for her performance.
Star Trek: Picard – Season 1 (2020)
Picard is a legend of a character, and it was nice to see him in action again. However, it’s a bit of a shock to see him and the characters from the Star Trek shows in the eighties and nineties commingling in this post-Abrams Star Trek universe. I watched the season with friends and reviews were mixed. For those who did like it, we thought it really needed more than ten episodes in a season to tell its story. Now that I’m watching Star Trek: Discovery, I can see that play out. There’s more room to breathe with fifteen episodes in their seasons. Picard has room for improvement and with another season guaranteed, I’m hoping they stabilize and add more room for their stories.
Garak, whoa.