Crusade: A Follow Up (or How Can I Ramble Less While Rambling More)

Last November I wrote a blog that discussed a suggested viewing order for Crusade, the short lived Babylon 5 spin-off that aired on TNT. After doing a re-watch recently with my son and wife, I had a few more thoughts and just wanted to put them out there. Some of the info below is repetitive while some is expanding on details glossed over originally, including a step-by-step process of my reasoning. If you liked my two lists, nothing has changed just a bit more information in a few areas and a bit less in others.

We will start with a quick and dirty re-cap.
Crusade filmed five episodes (actual production order in parenthesis) with the intended broadcast order of:
Racing the Night (103)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)

The show was put on an extended hiatus (three weeks instead of one) to create new black costumes to replace the original gray costumes, make make-up changes, and expand sets at the request of the network. They also requested a new opening episode, however they wanted it with the new costumes. After the hiatus, production continued with two episodes already written and ready for filming followed by the new first episode which was rushed into production:
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
War Zone (108)

Production continued with the filming of four scripts that were already in progress at the time of the first hiatus and a new episode was created to explain the costume changes:
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

At this point they took the already scheduled mid-season holiday hiatus. Three episodes were completely scripted and in various levels of preproduction so they could resume filming after this second hiatus. These included an episode that would explain the change back to black uniforms, the return of fan favorite Babylon 5 character (Bester), and the season finale which was being filmed early to give more time for post-production:
To the Ends of the Earth (114)
Value Judgements (115)
The End of the Line (116)

Another five episodes were already planned with several the process of being outlined or scripted:
Darkness of the Soul (117)
Tried and True (118)
Untitled (119)
War Story (120)
Walls of Hell (121)
Gates of Hell (possible working title, 122)

TNT cancelled the series without going back into production. They would air the 13 completed episodes as a “limited series” during the summer.

TNT aired the episodes in this order:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
Well of Forever (106)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
Racing the Night (103)
The Memory of War (102)

The Needs of Earth (101)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)

This created several continuity problems, for example, the virus screen was discovered in “The Memory of War” after was used in “Patterns of the Soul.” “Ruling from the Tomb” which has an on-screen date of June is aired before “Visitors from Down the Street” which has an on-screen date of May. There are several others (which I will point out farther down), but you get the idea. This was also the order they were released on DVD.

Many have tried to fix the continuity issues by moving the first five up in the order and assuming the change back to black uniforms happen off screen. For years one of my favorites of these is one I came up with myself which I call…

“Altered Production Order”:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

I work from the assumption that episodes are mostly shot has they are intended to be seen (with a few exceptions here and there). So, I start with production order then move episodes that were shot out of order (“War Zone,” “Appearances and Other Deceits.” and “The Needs of Earth”). It fixes many continuity issues and has a good flow since you can see the natural evolution of production but even then, there are still continuity issues like Gideon and Lochley meeting and appearing to know each other in “Each Night I Dream of Home” but then meeting for the first time in “Ruling from the Tomb,” and the black uniforms simply vanishing without mention.

Next is the “Official Babylon 5 Chronology,” it goes:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

This is not too far from my “Altered Production Order,” so it suffers from the exact same issues.

“Continuity Order,” a list from Wikipedia, fixes that issue of the Gideon/Lochley meeting but runs into the on-screen date issue as well as other issues, it goes:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
Racing the Night (103)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

There is also the “Sci-Fi Channel Order” that the creator came up with for its rebroadcast. It ignores continuity completely, so it’s a real mess, I think his bitterness at the network interference blinded him to the fact this order would kill any verisimilitude. It goes:
Racing the Night (103)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Well of Forever (106)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

There are other lists out there as well, an all-inclusive order that includes the unproduced scripts, a “pure five” list that only includes the first five and a “pure” list that expands it to ten episodes. But any list that cuts episodes is not one I endorse. You gotta take the good with the bad.

This brings me to my preferred list which I call “Alternating Order” (formerly “Alternate Altered Production Order” in my last blog) Here is a step-by-step guide to how I get there. When trying to come up with the best possible order it is best to start with production order then start moving pieces. So we have:
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
War Zone (108)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

“War Zone” was created to be the first episode, so we move it to the top. So now we have this order:
War Zone (108)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

“Appearances and Other Deceits” must take place before all the gray uniform episodes: “The Needs of Earth,” “The Memory of War,” “Racing the Night,” “Visitors from Down the Street,” and “Each Night I Dream of Home.” So, we move it just before “The Needs of Earth.” This works well since it gives the impression that from the start, Earth will attempt to micromanage and manipulate how things are perceived. So now we have this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

“The Memory of War” has the discovery of the virus shield used in “Patterns of the Soul” and mentioned in “Each Night I Dream of Home.” Chambers’ log heard in “The Needs of Earth” refers to “The Memory of War,” the Apocalypse Box warning in “The Memory of War” foreshadows “The Well of Forever,” The news broadcast puts “The Memory of War” date in late March/early April before the on-screen dates of “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Ruling from the Tomb.” This only requires we move “The Memory of War” ahead a single episode up in the order ahead of “The Needs of Earth.” This gets you back to my “Altered Production Order,” but as I said above, there are still some continuity issues. So here we are:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

“The Needs of Earth” and “Visitors from Down the Street” must take place before “The Well of Forever” because Matheson’s scans are referring to those episodes. They are already in that order.

“Visitors from Down the Street” must be before “Ruling from the Tomb”
Because of the on-screen dates of May and June. They are already in that order.

“Ruling from the Tomb” then “Each Night I Dream of Home” then “Rules of the Game” is the proper progression of Gideon/Lockley meetings. So, we move “Ruling from the Tomb” up between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home”

These last two continuity points puts a black uniform episode between two gray uniform episodes. It’s an issue most lists ignore to keep the gray uniform episodes together. Other lists either put “Ruling from the Tomb” after “Each Night I Dream of Home” (ruining the progression of Gideon/Lockley meetings) or before “Appearances and other Deceits” (ruining the on-screen date order). Both the “Original Broadcast/DVD Order” and the “Official Chronology” are examples of this.

This informs the direction of the rest of this viewing order. With “Ruling from the Tomb” between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home,” we now have this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Rather than assume the change back to black uniforms happens off screen after clustering the grey uniform episodes together, it makes more sense to alternate the black and gray uniforms but making sure to take care not to create more continuity issues. It is just as valid assumption that they would use both sets of uniforms as it is that would would change back off screen. I realized this while watching a first season episode of seaQuest DSV and noticed that they would use different uniforms just like the real military. 

We can NOT move “Well of Forever” up between “The Memory of War” and “Needs of Earth” because it must take place after  “The Needs of Earth” and “Visitors from Down the Street,” since Matheson's scans refer back to those episodes, so we move on to “The Long Road” and move it up between “The Memory of War” and “The Needs of Earth.”

We now have:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Next, “The Path of Sorrows,” goes between “The Needs of Earth” and “Racing the Night.” This means we first see the Apocalypse Box, but it is a total mystery in “The Memory of War,” it is explained to us in “Path of Sorrows” and then shown again in “Racing the Night” establishing that Gideon is keeping it a secret from Galen after Gideon was warned by the Box not to trust Galen. Perhaps not the original intent but it sure works well.

Speaking of “Racing the Night,” there was a temptation to move it before “The Memory of War” since that was the original intended order and it was supposed to be the premier episode, but the creation of “War Zone” made that a moot issue. Putting it after “Appearances and Other Deceits” didn’t work as well since Chambers sees a softer side in of Max in “Appearances and Other Deceits” but goes back to disliking him, even going so far as to call him “the king of the pig people” in “Racing the Night.” It’s better to have a few episodes that allow a reset of their relationship (the opening sequence in “The Needs of Earth” with the alien porn really helps to get there). Also having it take place after “Path of Sorrows” implies that Gideon's respite from bad dreams has past, however, they are now focused on his mission instead of the Cerebus.

However, I digress, “The Path of Sorrows,” goes up after “The Needs of Earth” leaving us with this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Finally, we move “Patterns of the Soul” between “Racing the Night” and “Visitors from Down the Street.” This works very well since some of the exposition that was intended to be introductory for “Racing the Night” now seems more specific. For example: The reminder that Dureena’s race was wiped out by the Drahk and she is the last of her kind is now paid off in the very next episode with “Patterns of the Soul.” Black also claims he and his left Earth six months ago before the Drahk attack (which happened in December). Having this take place just before “Visitors from Down the Street” which is set in May works out nicely timeline wise.

We leave the remaining three where they are since “Well of Forever” must be after “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Rules of the Game” must be after “Each Night I Dream of Home,” and “Ruling from the Tomb” is already between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home.” This works out well. Not only are both Lockley and The Excalibur “in the neighborhood” of Earth for “Each Night I Dream of Home” shortly after the events of “Ruling from the Tomb,” but it is also a nice progression that Dr. Franklin would authorize such an extreme measure after getting data from the conference on Mars.

We are now out of gray uniform episodes to alternate so we end with two black uniform episodes: “The Well of Forever” and “Rules of the Game.” This works well with Gideon commenting on Galen’s absences in “Racing the Night” not only explaining why he was missing in past episodes like “Appearances and Other Deceits,” and “The Needs of Earth” but it nicely foreshadows his absence from the following four episodes then pays off the warning of the Apocalypse Box that was made in “The Memory of War” in the penultimate episode. This allows the finale to end at Babylon 5. It’s a nice bit of symmetry. 

This leaves our final order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Racing the Night (103)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

You can read the original post here Complete with a flow chart: http://brettharriscomics.blogspot.com/2021/11/reflecting-on-babylon-5s-crusade-or.html

10 Movies to Know Me

A recent post was inspired by the Twitter topic of “Ten Shows to Know Me.” Rather than make a list I expand it to a recommendation for some excellent tv viewing, Now, I thought I would take a run at my favorite films. While it is sci-fi heavy, it is an eclectic mix with (horror, western, crime and even a romantic comedy)

HONORABLE MENTION: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The classic zombie film by George Romero makes my list despite being a genre that I’ve never warmed to. Horror has always left me cold, unless it was classic Universal monster films or the Hammer House of Horror vampire flicks. Romero’s low budget classic clicks with me not because the zombies or horror element that is appealing but the idea of putting a group of diverse people in a pot boiler situation then cranking up the heat/stress level for real drama against the backdrop of the inconceivable.

10. Scream (1996)
One of the reasons I’ve never been a huge horror fan is the slasher subgenre.  Mindless gore with body counts and central characters with the intelligence of a rutabaga… until Scream came along and created a slasher film that mocks the “rules” and tropes of the genre. For every cheap jump scare there is a gag or joke that slyly mocks the competition. A great cast, brilliant script and masterfully directed by Wes Craven, it stands above the rest of the slice and dice series and even approaches… art.

9. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The John Struges directed western remake of The Seven Samurai is a fantastic piece of Americana. Yule Brenner leads a star-studded cast as an eclectic group of gunmen are hired to defend a small farming village from a gang of bandits. Beautiful vistas have never looked better since films have started being restored to their former widescreen glory after decades of pan and scan broadcasts on tv and Elmer Bernstein’s Academy Award winning score always ups the energy level in this classic tale of good versus evil mixed with a dose of redemption.

8. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Quentin Tarantino’s second film cemented him as one of the great filmmakers of his generation. His love of film allowed him to mash up elements of crime, exploitation, drama, comedy, kung fu, western and horror into a brand that is uniquely his. He frequently comes under fire for the moments of violence in his films, but anyone really paying attention will see that he is really a wordsmith and a master of plot and dialogue. The soliloquys far outnumber the violent acts and the characters are far deeper than the shallow caricatures that inhabit typical action films. Pulp Fiction is Tarantino at his best creating a story with a nonlinear collection of short stories that come together to form a larger narrative.

7. Planet of the Apes (1968)
The Rod Serling script based on the French novel led to an epic franchise that includes 9 films and two tv shows but the original is still the best. Social commentary permeates the story about astronauts who clash on a planet where apes rule and men are savages kept in cages. It starts slow but brilliantly builds and builds until hits the audience with an unforgettable closing shot.

6. The Terminator (1984)
The time travel action story about a robot sent into the past to kill the mother of a future resistance leader before he is born results in a violent action film that has a surprising amount of heart. The film launched the careers of both writer/director James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger as box office royalty. Arnold may play the villainous title character but it’s Michael Biehn who shines as the out matched hero trying to protect Linda Hamilton (who would give stellar performances herself in the second and sixth entries of the franchise). This classic spawned an impressive franchise consisting of 5 more films and a tv show. The first follow-up film was groundbreaking and ushered in the digital age of technology, while the others were entertaining but derivative. The 2008 tv show, however is probably best thing since the 1991 sequel.

5. Serenity (2005)
The feature film sequel to the short lived sci-fi western television series Firefly (2002) gave fans some closure but deserves more credit for being a great film on its own. The television cast (along with new characters) are just as luminous on the big screen as the small and the story of the little guy who stands up to the big guy is timeless. Writer/director Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers) does some great world building about the small spaceship crew being hunted by the totalitarian Alliance and defied expectations for a film that essentially continues a tv franchise.

4. Free Enterprise (1999)
The independent film by Mark Altman and Robert Meyer Burnett is a wonderful romantic comedy about best friends who meet their idol (William Shatner). Sci-fi and comic book references abound, but at its heart it’s a love story grounded in wit and highlighted by offbeat characters played by a wonderful cast. It was ahead of its time since I can only call it Clerks meets Big Bang Theory with a dash of My Favorite Year.

3. Aliens (1986)
The sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien, is the perfect way to follow up a classic. Writer/director James Cameron decided to take a more action route rather than do another variation of monster in space. Sending in the marines to deal with the otherworldly man-eating aliens the second time around results in a pace is relentless instead of suspenseful. The characters (and the viewers) rarely have to time to take a breath and the result is a superior sequel that kicks up a notch for a whole generation of filmmakers and filmgoers.

2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The superior sequel to the classic 1977 sci-fi fantasy film, Star Wars, that forever changed movie going. George Lucas’s homage to classic Flash Gordon serials spawned the summer blockbuster and made him the preeminent visionary of filmic world building. Common themes and a simple story mixed with technical genius led to the inevitable sequel (and eventually a trilogy of trilogies) but the best film of the entire franchise is the first sequel. Rather than retread common ground, Lucas enlisted the aid of director Ivin Kirshner and writers Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan to deify expectations both in terms of direction (the bad guys win) and complexity. The heroes are deeper and the universe richer the second time around as Luke Skywalker goes off to learn the ways of the force from an exiled Jedi master while Han Solo tries to keep the evil Darth Vader from hunting down Princess Leia, the leader of the Rebellion.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
We top the list with a third superior sequel. With Ricardo Montalban charming tv viewers as Fantasy Island’s Mr. Roark on television every week, film goers were shocked to see him play the obsessed Star Trek villain. Today he is the benchmark for Trek antagonists (one that many fall short of). Not only is the film a sequel to 1979’s Star Trek the Motion Picture and the film series a sequel to the TV show (1966-1969) but the story itself is a sequel to the 1967 episode “Space Seed” which guest starred Montalban as the genetically engineered superman. This time around he is escaping his exile (imposed in the episode) and obsessed with killing the man who left him there: Capt. Kirk of the starship Enterprise.

Four other movies considered for the Honorable Mention slot and would make an expanded top 15 list include (in no particular order) Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Cobblers, Elves and Gravity: Are People "Efficient" or Dishonest?

 Some posts on social media have reminded me of a story.

There was a little old man who was a cobbler and one day his nephews were in need of shoe repair, so they paid a visit to their uncle. They loved their uncle and there was no better cobbler in the town. He knew how to fix a shoe, but sadly not much else. He would wax philosophical about how wind was the product of ghosts flying around overhead, or that the night sky was a worn-out blanket and the stars where the light from the glowing angels who pull the blanket over the Earth shining through the tiny holes in the fabric.

As he worked on his nephews’ shoes, he accidently nudged his hammer and it fell to the ground. He quickly snatched it back up and yelled toward the ground, “You won’t be stealin’ me hammer today, ya rotten elf.”

The nephews exchanged a look, then one asked, “What do you mean by that, uncle?”

“The reasons things fall to the ground is because there is an elf that lives under the grass using his mental powers to pull it to the ground. If it stays there too long, he will steal it when yer not lookin’.”

The other nephew who was a student at university, tried to explain the concept of gravity to his uncle but the cobbler would have none of it. “Yer too smart fer yer own good, he said, sometimes simple wisdom is the best instead of fancy exaggerated complicated ideas they be puttin’ in yer noggin,” the cobbler said.

They tried and tried to explain, the harder they tried the more uncle refused to listen to rationality. Finally, the cobbler stood and said, “I’ll prove it to ya, I’ll let go o’ this hammer and the elf will use his magic powers to make it fall to the ground.”

The cobbler reached out and let go of the hammer and, indeed, like he said it would, it dropped to the ground.

“See there lads, I told ye so,” the cobbler bragged as he snatched the hammer back up from the ground, “You have to admit I was right, that wee little elf yanked it right flat to the ground. Yer playing the fool ifun ya can’t see that I just proved I was right”

The nephews tried to argue, but the cobbler held firm, “Do ye not believe yer own eyes? Ye saw the hammer fall! Clearly, I’m right!” They continued to try to explain gravity, but the cobbler said, “Yer not gonna brainwash me inta believing the witchcraft like they did you in that fancy school o’ yourn.”

He handed them their shoes, “Here ya go, no charge fer family, tell yer father I’ll see him at church and please, please don’t test the elf ‘cause he be snatchin’ yer goods if yer not careful.”

Now if we analyze this story, there are two options here: Either the cobbler had and issue with Sir Isaac Newton or one of the teachers at the university and wanted to undercut the science of gravity by deliberately putting out misinformation which would make him a blatant liar or he was just ignorant and would not listen to facts because he let his personal bias for believing in elves override demonstrable science and fact. But it wasn’t just the stupidity of believing in elves it was the arrogance of “proving it” with faulty data. He started with the result and worked his way back to what he wanted to believe instead of the other way around.

The story reminds me of a quote from my favorite tv show: “Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you.”

It used to be a funny line but now, I find it prophetic. In the current age of misinformation, we are inundated with people spreading information that is not true. I have been saying, since the start, that it’s hard to build bridges when there are two types of people who spread misinformation: Those who don’t know it’s false and those who don’t care. One is an issue of intelligence and the other is an issue of honesty. It’s hard to get to a point of compromise or discussion when the person you are dealing with is someone who is either not intelligent enough to understand the situation or simply lying.

It was such an issue I devoted blog to it years ago when I pulled apart a fact free meme about immigration. I was hoping that people I like who were posting hateful and false information would start checking stuff out before sharing things that were not only hurtful but created backlash and perpetuated violence against others. You  can read it here: 

http://brettharriscomics.blogspot.com/2017/10/facts-matter-disecting-fact-free-post.html

“If you want to open a dialogue or reach middle ground with others, maybe you should start with a position that doesn’t call someone stupid. That might help,” you may say. Yea, but the alternative is that I assume they know better and are deliberately lying.

“Then maybe you should give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they think they are telling the truth.” I could, but even if I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are not just “party over country” hacks who are lying purely for political reasons, then I still must stop and wonder about their basic intelligence. 

“Not necessarily, smart people can be conned, tricked, and bamboozled.” Yes, they can, anyone can get tricked or duped, but when people *repeatedly* share stuff without checking it out first, especially in a time when misinformation is rampant, then there has to be more going on that just simple stupidity: It’s stupidity and arrogance wrapped in the same package.

The cobbler in the story was, as the quote went, “efficient.”

I’m seeing a lot of efficiency in on the social media feeds these days. People professing they were right but not for the reason they espoused.

Not long after the 2020 election, lists of “predictions” were posted (probably composed by a Russian troll) and then copied and pasted by Trump supporters on social media over and over. It was insanely fact free, and I saw it with such frequency that I did a blog picking apart every erroneous statement (ie ALL of them). My personal favorite, for example, was the claim “North Korea has been under control and has not been testing any missiles.” In fact, under Trump’s four years they had 32 missile tests compared to 7 in eight years under Obama. It was rife with this kind of misinformation. You can read the whole thing and my response here: 

http://brettharriscomics.blogspot.com/2020/11/

I took great care to back up my positions with links to a variety of sources left, right, center and neutral, just so no one could dismiss the totality of the response as being liberally bias.

In addition to being rife with misinformation the original post was sneaky.

Two of the points it tried to make were about 1) gas prices and 2) interest rates, implying they were low because of Trump’s great success, and they would go up because of Biden’s failure. Neither is true but it was brilliantly deceptive, if you are dealing with someone who is not that bright.

Because of the COVID pandemic lockdown, the economy was in free fall and is typical for either political party during bad economic times, the Federal Reserve cut the interest rates. They were cut to .01%, the lowest ever.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/federal-reserve-cuts-rates-to-zero-and-launches-massive-700-billion-quantitative-easing-program.html

While they have not gone up yet, my obvious prediction is that as the economy recovers (possibly sooner rather than later to slow the rate of inflation), interest rates will go back up and political hacks will try to blame Biden. I don’t say this to prove I’m smart, I say it because it’s so blindingly obvious that even an English major can see the mathematical/financial writing on the wall.

The same with gas and oil. Because of the lockdown people traveled less and lowered demand. As is typical in a “supply and demand” capitalist economy, the price dropped and manufactures slowed production. It had nothing to do with Trump. It was a global phenomenon. Oil on the international market dropped below ZERO dollars a barrel for the first time ever.

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/21/839522390/u-s-oil-prices-fall-below-zero-for-the-first-time-in-history

Anyone with a brain in their head could predict oil and gas prices would go up, hell, it had nowhere to go but up, it was like saying water was wet.

Oil prices have also been exacerbated by Putin’s actions in the Ukraine, driving those same barrels of oil to hundreds of dollars and continuing to climb.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-gas-prices-expensive-11646767172

There are also calls for investigations into price gouging as oil companies continue to make record profits in the face of rising prices. 

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/03/08/galvin-wants-investigation-into-possible-price-gouging-by-gas-companies/

In spite of the stupid little ""I did that!" stickers, it's not a Biden issue, it's a global one.

 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/global-markets-gas-2021-09-20/

The original writer who was clearly a partisan hack/liar and used this obvious fact and twisted it to make it look like low prices were Trump’s success and when prices would go up as lockdowns and travel restrictions ended, it would look like Biden’s failure. 

One can manipulate a truth to create a lie. Memes have appeared with the price of gas during the lockdown with Trump's name and the price of gas now with Biden's name. It's technically correct, but doing that without the proper context is the same as telling a blatant lie.

Let me say that again for the slow kids in the back: Putting out technically correct information but doing so in a misleading way without context is the same as lying.

They are doing the same thing with supply chain issues resulted the highest inflation since Reagan (Remember Reagan? The guy they love, inflation under him is good, but under the other party it's bad). Trying to place blame Biden for something that is intrinsically a flaw in capitalism and a direct result of the pandemic is either showing a lack of intelligence or a lack of integrity.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/5-ways-the-covid-19-pandemic-has-changed-the-supply-chain/

Now you have Trump supporters posting memes or saying, “I was right. Gas prices went up.” 

Yea, they were right, just like the cobbler was right about the elf.

The hammer fell just a s gas prices predictably went up, but *neither* is for the reason espoused… 

So, the question is, again: do I assume the people posting memes and bragging about being right are liars who are putting party above country (or reality) or are they just being…well... efficient?

10 Television Shows to Know Me

Recently on Twitter the topic of “Ten Shows to Know Me” trended. Rather than make a list I wanted to expand on it as a recommendation for some excellent tv viewing. It is sci-fi heavy but it also has some classic and obscure gems worth checking out.

Honorable Mention: Homicide: Life on the Streets (1993-2000) Hands down the best police procedural of all time. Based on Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon’s non-fiction book and a creative staff that led St. Elsewhere’s Tom Fontana, the writing was some of the sharpest on broadcast television when it aired for seven seasons on NBC from 1993-1999. The 122 episodes and a TV movie in 2000 and laid the creative groundwork for HBO’s Oz (1997-2003) and The Wire (2002-2008) and was a showcase for some of the best actors and directors working in film and theatre. As of this writing it is not streaming on any service. 

Before moving on to the list of 10, I want to point out nine other shows considered for the Honorable Mention slot and would make an expanded top 20 list include (in no particular order): The West Wing (1999-2006), which was really really neck and neck with Homicide. Hands down the smartest show ever made. Picket Fences (1992-1996), Boston Legal (2004-2008), L.A. Law (1986-1994, 2002), Moonlighting (1985-1989), The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), The Twilight Zone (1959-64), Battlestar Galactica (1979-1980), and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009). 

Now on to the top ten...

 

10. Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982-1983) This ABC series created by Donald Bellisario (Magnum, P.I., JAG, NCIS) was axed after a single season after being unfairly deemed a rip-off of Raiders of the Lost Ark (it was really inspired by a 1939 Howard Hawks film starring Cary Grant called Only Angels Have Wings). Set in 1938 in the South Pacific, it starred Stephen Collins as an ex-volunteer fighter pilot, his one eye dog and alcoholic mechanic as they team up with a U.S. spy and a bar owner with a murky past for adventures. Sometimes they come into conflict with (or even, to their surprise, get aid from) a Nazi posing as a priest, a Japanese princess and her Bushido bodyguard but most of the time it was just rip-roaring fun and adventure with a fantastic cast, rich characters, and a great sense of humor. 21 episodes were made (a two-hour pilot movie followed by 20 one-hour episodes). As of this writing it is not streaming on any service. In the late 80s two of the episodes (“Shanghaied!” And “Trunk from the Past”) were reedited into a tv movie and sold in syndication under the title Curse at the Gold Monkey. 

9. Quantum Leap (1989-1993) Another series by Don Bellisario. At first glance the premise about a time traveler leaping into the bodies of others to fix recent history with the aid of a hologram seems complicated but it works well. As the NBC show first described itself in the original narration: “Theorizing that one could time-travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top-secret project known as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator, and vanished... He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brain-wave transmissions with Al (Dean Stockwell), the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, put things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next Leap will be the Leap home.” The premise was flexible enough to give a great range of shows, each week you could tune in and either get a drama, a comedy, an action-adventure episode or straight sci-fi. The charm, chemistry and likeability of the starring duo was the heart of the show while its diverse storytelling was what kept it sustainable for five seasons and 95 episodes (a two-hour pilot followed by 93 one-hour episodes and a two-hour episode). As of this writing it is currently streaming on the Roku Channel and being broadcast on Comet TV and Peacock has commissioned a pilot movie for a reboot/sequel with Bellisario’s input. 

8. St. Elsewhere (1982-1988) This brilliant NBC medical series did for drama what M*A*S*H* did for sit-coms: It tore down walls between genres. Not only was the drama expertly written and performed it could also be equally comical. The plots, the characterizations, themes, and jokes are all pitch perfect. It was a critical darling that never did well in the ratings but still managed to run six seasons and 137 episodes and racked up 106 award nominations in the areas of writing, direction and acting. It launched the careers of Howie Mandel, David Morse, Mark Harmon, Bruce Greenwood, Ed Begley, Jr., and Denzel Washington and garnered awards for veteran actors like William Daniels, Bonnie Bartlett and Ed Flanders. As of this writing it is currently streaming on Hulu. 

7. Due South (1994-1999) This Canadian series that aired for three seasons in America (two on CBS and one in first run syndication) is hard to define. Is it a crime drama or a fish out of water comedy? Is it an odd couple satire or family adventure? Is all the above? The series was created by Paul Haggis (writer/director of the Academy Award winner Crash) and ran for 66 episodes (a two-hour pilot followed by 64 one-hour episodes and a two-hour episode). The show follows a Canadian Mounty (Paul Gross) and his deaf wolf as they go to Chicago on the trail of the killers of the Mountie’s father and, after the pilot, remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate to help the Chicago police department on cases. The comedy can range from slapstick to word play and the drama can hit hard and regardless of the tone, the cast hits it out of the park every time. Wildly popular in its native Canada it was thrice canceled in the U.S which is almost enough to make me want to renounce my citizenship and take up curling. 

6. Firefly (2002) The short-lived sci-fi western was killed by Fox after only a two-hour pilot and 13 one-hour episodes were filmed (some not even aired) but the show exploded on home video and frequently makes many people’s wish list of shows that need to be brought back. Series creator Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers) did manage to give some closure to fans by making a motion picture follow-up, Serenity, in 2005. The show followed a defeated war veteran (Nathan Fillion, who was frequently compared to Harrison Ford) who commands a small ship and crew trying to eke out an existence on the edge of known space. Sometimes taking legitimate jobs and sometimes resorting to crime, the crew is constantly trying to evade the totalitarian Alliance who are searching for two fugitive members of the crew. As of this writing the show is streaming on Hulu and Disney+ is reportedly developing a reboot without Whedon. 

5. Alien Nation (1989-1990, 1994-1997) This science fiction allegory for race relations was based on the 1988 feature film. The series, developed by Kenneth Johnson (V, The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman), focused on a quarter of a million aliens trying to integrate to our society five years after their ship crashed on Earth. Over the course of the show. a human police detective (Gary Graham) must deal with his feelings of bigotry when he is paired with the first alien promoted to detective (Eric Pierpoint) and his new alien neighbor (Teri Treas) moves in next door. The racial tensions flare as they investigate cases (some taking odd twists due to alien involvement) leading to drama and action, but the heart of the show is the often-comical way we see the clash of cultures. Johnson’s writing staff lay plenty of the comically absurd tropes on the audience revealing that once we strip away the silly differences, we are more alike than not. The cast is wonderful managing the comedy and the drama with equal aplome. The show ran for 27 total episodes. The show was initially canceled after one season on a cliffhanger after 22 episodes (a two-hour pilot and 21 one-hour episodes) but returned half a decade later for five more two-hour episodes/made for tv movies parceled out over three more seasons. It made TV Guide’s list of shows cancelled too soon. As of this writing the first season is streaming on Tubi. 

4. Farscape (1999-2004) The sci-fi adventure series was Brian Henson’s attempt to expand his father’s legacy by showing they can do something more complex and mature than just Muppets. He succeeded in spades. Conceived with Rockne S. O’Bannon (Alien Nation feature film) and with a writer’s room led by David Kemper the show mixed drama and the wackiest elements of sci-fi for a show that was both visually and thematically unique despite its pedestrian premise. The series follows an astronaut (Ben Browder) who is shot though a wormhole and lost in space. He takes up with a group of escaped alien prisoners who are evading the brutal “Peacekeeper” regime. While show starts out as stand-alone episodes it becomes more serialized as it progressed. Admittedly, it was hit and miss at first, but partway through season two the main character invokes the name of “Buffy, the Vampire Salyer” and like Billy Batson yelling “Shazam!” the show was transformed. They knew what they needed to be tonally: A sci-fi Buffy that blends humor and pathos, at that point the show took off and never looked back. The puppet characters are every bit as three dimensional as the real-life actors and while Ben Browder plays a more intellectual hero, he still shines with charm and charisma. Farscape ran for four seasons (88 one-hour episodes) and ended on a cliffhanger in 2003 when Sci-Fi Channel canceled it after reneging on a fifth and final season. A year later a mini-series consisting of 2 two-hour episodes were made to wrap up the story. As of this writing it is being broadcast on Comet TV (unfortunately season 1-3 are cropped to widescreen and season one is heavily edited since the show was a joint venture with Australian television which has less commercials and ran 5 minutes longer than US shows) and as of this writing it is streaming on Amazon Prime. 

3. Buffy, The Vampire Salyer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004) Yes, I’m cheating by combining shows with their spin offs, get over it, I’m going it in the next two entries as well. Unhappy with the interpretation of his 1992 feature film script by Fran Rubel Kuzui, Joss Whedon adapted his creation to television. It ran for seven seasons and 143 episodes (142 one-hour episodes and 1 two-hour episode) across two networks (The WB and UPN) and developed a cult following. Whedon blends comedy, horror and drama seamlessly from the idea that hell and monsters are a great allegory for high school and teenagers as it follows high school girl Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller), the chosen one with a destiny to save the world by ridding it of demons and vampires. Strong characters highlight this series that not afraid to embrace the silly or darkest of the dark. The same can be said for the spin-off, Angel, which follows the title character (David Boreanaz), a vampire with a soul, as he searches for redemption by fighting the forces of evil. Angel ran five seasons (110 one-hour episodes) on The WB. Both shows made use of the season long story arcs which was less risky than J. Michael Straczynski’s five-year arc and become a stable of many series with the advent of streaming. As of this writing both shows are available on Hulu. 

2. The Star Trek franchise (1966 to present) When Star Trek first premiered on NBC in 1966 it was mostly a failure. Not until man walked on the moon did the show find its cult audience while it was in syndicated reruns in the 70’s. Gene Roddenberry’s stories about a multi-ethnic crew exploring space in the far future gave him room to tell great stories that were allegorical to our society. With just 80 episodes, the characters of the original series have become so woven into our popular culture that would be hard pressed to find some who did not know Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura or Sulu even if they never watched the show. The cult status of the original series allowed for an animated revival in 1973-1974 (consisting of 22 episodes that are far and away better than most cartoons of the era) six movies (1979-1991) and a trilogy of reboot films (2009-2016) but it was the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) that broke out and made Trek mainstream. It took place on a new starship almost century later the new crew became the top show in first run syndication and ran for seven seasons consisting of 176 episodes (174 one-hour episodes and 2 two-hour episodes) and four feature films (1994-2002). 

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) was panned by critics as too dark but it’s possibly my favorite as it combines the best elements of the two predecessors and disregards the worst. It ran for seven seasons and 173 episodes (170 one-hour and 3 two-hour) in first run syndication and was based on a space station near a wormhole leading to the other side of the galaxy. I suspect the attitude toward the show had more to do with the fact it was never on by itself. It ran concurrently with the last two seasons of Next Generation and the first five season of its successor, speaking of which… 

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) launched the UPN network and was always entertaining but lacked some of the punch of its predecessors. It had a solid cast and great production values. It ran seven seasons of 168 episodes (164 one-hour and 4 two-hour) and focused on a spaceship accidently transported across the galaxy trying to make its way home. 

The next in the franchise was Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005). A prequel set about a century before the original series. It ran for four seasons and 97 episodes (a two-hour primer followed by 96 one-hour episodes) on UPN. An excellent cast highlighted a show that frequently suffered from recycled Trek concepts its first two seasons but finally broke the mold with the franchise's first season long story arc in season three. The show would again change formats is final year with a series of multi episode arcs. Both of the latter seasons were great, but the franchise had lost too many viewers and Trek would take 12-year hiatus from the small screen. 

Trek returned to tv on the streaming platform CBS All Access (recently rebranded Paramount+) with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. Set just before the original series, the show suffered from horrid continuity and inconsistent and unlikeable characters, but it did boast stunning feature quality production values. Attempts were made to adjust course in season two but continued to suffer from not having the “feel” of Trek. Finally, in season three it started clicking when the ship and crew were transported one thousand years into the future after the fall off the Federation. The moral core of the characters were nudged to the more optimistic side. Even when it was flailing in the early seasons, Discovery did excel at what Trek has traditionally done right. Representation of minorities. Just has the original series had an Asian man and black woman in the cast at the same time the country was enduring a war in Viet Nam and Civil Rights marches in our streets, Discovery has a gay couple and a non-binary character. Season four is currently airing and continues the trend of improvement from the third season. At the end of the season they will have completed 55 episodes and it has already been renewed for a ten-episode fifth season next year. 

Delays in production lead to two short seasons of Short Treks (2018-2020), an anthology consisting of ten mini-episodes with a run time of 8-18 minutes. These are fantastic little gems. Ranging from dramatic to comedic they are not constrained by any single style or genre, one episode was even used as backstory and set up for Paramount+'s next series, speaking of which... 

Star Trek: Picard, (2020 to present) is a follow up to Star Trek: The Next Generation focusing on the retired captain from that series and his quest to solve a mystery left in the wake of a long dead comrade. It was fun to see new stories starring the brilliant Patrick Stewart, but some of the characterizations seemed inconsistent with what was established twenty years earlier. Again, the cast and production values are superb, but there are too many moments where I can’t help but scratch my head and think “I don’t think that character would do that.” The first season of 10 episodes aired in 2020 and the ten-episode season two began March 3 and a 10 episode third season has recently wrapped production. 

Paramount+ continues to try to broaden the appeal of Star Trek with two new animated series. First with Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020 to present) an adult comedy focused on four junior officers on a mid-level ship. Set shortly after the Next Generation/DS9/Voyager era, the series is fun and funny but frequently suffers from being too self-aware. The lines the characters speak seem like something someone watching the show would say as opposed to someone living in the universe would say, although season two improved on that. Two seasons have aired a total of 20 episodes with season three scheduled to air late in 2022 and season four already in production for 2023.  The other animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy, is an action series aimed at kids and made in coordination with Nickelodeon. The first season premiered in October and will continue later in 2022 with a total of 20 episodes and season two is already in production. While aimed at kids, this really is a wonderful little series that adult fans can enjoy as well. A group of young aliens escape enslavement from a mining colony when they discover an abandoned starship. Mentored by a holographic tutor who mistakes the escapees for cadets in training, they are learning the values of the Star Trek society as they try to reach freedom. This show does the most important thing a kid’s show can do: It never writes down to the kids. Prodigy is also set after the Next Generation/DS9/Voyager era. The two shows have very different animation styles. Lower Decks is more of a Rick and Morty style while Prodigy is like the computer animation Star Wars: The Clone Wars. 

The next new series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, spins out of the second season of Discovery which featured re-cast characters from the original 1964 Star Trek pilot (“The Cage” and later the footage was recycled into the two-part 1966 episode “The Menagerie” and used as a flash back to approximately a decade prior to the beginning of the original series). The ten episode first season is set to debut on May 5th. Filming on season two is scheduled start before it even airs. It’s another prequel that is supposed to explore the time and crew of the Enterprise between the events of the original pilot and the first season of the original series. My hopes are high, but yet another recasting of the classic characters after the reboot films and painful continuity issues from the first two seasons of Discovery have me nervous, but Anson Mount’s likable and earnest performance as Christopher Pike (originally played by Jeffrey Hunter) will certainly be a draw. All the Star Trek series are streaming on Paramount+ and the original series is airing on ME-TV and Heroes & Icons. 

1. Babylon 5 (1993-1999, 2002 and 2007)) Frequently dismissed as a low budget Star Trek rip-off, Babylon 5 did what no other American show had ever attempted: Execute a series with a preplanned five-year arc. Most shows, up until then, were a series of stand-alone episodes or they were serialized but the writers were making it up as they went along. Creator J. Michael Straczynski decided that he would outline the show like a novel. Amazingly, not only did he get it made but recently he was asked to do it again when The CW approached him about re-booting his sci-fi epic about a diplomatic space station deep in neutral space. The original pilot movie debuted in 1993 in the Warner Bros. first run syndication package called the “Prime Time Entertainment Network,” the following year the run started in earnest. It was a low budget show, the sets were cheap, the guest actors uneven and the SFX were the first time any series had been done completely computer generated. However, the main cast was strong and getting stronger, the make-up was amazing, and the stories kept building, going from appearing to be stand alone to very interconnected. Plot points were set up and sometimes paid off months or even years later. Regular viewers were rewarded with foreshadowing and repeat viewings rewarded with events or dialogue that seemed like texture but then turned out to crucial later. It was a unique television experience that has not yet been duplicated. The ax seemed to be looming during year four. Not because of quality. Each season improved over the previous and it had hit an intensity in seasons three and four that were amazing, but PTEN was going away and all its shows with it. TNT network stepped in and picked up the show for its final season and commissioned a spin-off called Crusade, with a new five-year story set in the same universe. 

Straczynski and the TNT clashed over the direction of the show and TNT cancelled the series before it was aired during the summer of 1999. Despite the network interference, Crusade was still a very good show (in fact I would say the episodes are better than the first 13 episodes of Babylon 5) and the essential premise was that a crew of an experimental spaceship were searching for a manufactured plague that was visited on Earth by its enemies was a great way into a new story arc. 

Sci-Fi Channel commissioned pilot for another spin off for 2001 and Straczynski created Babylon 5: Legends of the Rangers. Set to air in September it was delayed because of 9-11 and in 2002 the pilot aired to disappointing ratings, so the show about a small beat-up ship manned by human and alien Rangers tasked with keeping the interstellar peace, was never produced. Again, the pilot, while not perfect, was stronger than the original Babylon 5 pilot and would have made a good show. 

Finally, in 2007 Warner Bros. Home Video wanted Straczynski to make a direct to video Babylon 5 follow-up series. The result of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. It was extremely low budget, but very well acted and written. Warner Bros. wanted more but Straczysnki was disappointed, so it was the last Babylon 5 universe projects leaving fans with a total of 130 installments (a two-hour pilot followed by 110 one-hour episodes and 4 two-hour episodes, 13 one-hour episodes of Crusade, The Legend of the Rangers pilot movie, and The Lost Tales movie). Now there is a possibility of a re-boot by the original creator. As of this writing 111 episodes (the pilot movie and 110 one-hour episodes) are streaming on HBOMax.

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