Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Murder & Star Trek: Picard


What really bothered me was Agnes: she straight up murdered Bruce Maddox. Picard had previously told her she would be under arrest then she wasn't. All is forgiven I guess when murder is involved? Because on STP someone is murdered EVERY episode...the lack of respect for life is troublesome. This is 'Star Trek' NOT 'Game of Thrones' or 'The Walking Dead'. I've never seen so much consistent killing in Star Trek before. Star Trek used to respect life with only having to kill as a last resort, now it's a go-to answer to most situations it seems, it definitely feels that way to me.

That being said it wasn't a terrible show but definitely a bit rushed with many missed opportunities.

It gets 2** stars out of 5 for me. 

Monday, March 30, 2020

My final word on modern Star Trek (for now)

I saw this on a Star Trek fan group I am a part of on Facebook:

And this was my response: 

If new Trek was good it would not be divisive. Take ‘Avengers Endgame’ or ‘The Mandalorian’ for example: both new instalments of established franchises that have received little to no negative backlash. If it’s good people will like it. People are not hating on new Trek just because they want to; they are hating on it because they don’t think it’s good. 

And finally an announcement on the Calgary convention: 



And finally a reminder of a great period in Star Trek history: 




The Pop Culture Pub Podcast

Here are our current episodes of The Pop Culture Pub Podcast, available at www.podbean.com and https://thepopculturepub.podbean.com

We are discussing 'Star Trek: Picard' season one

And


Saturday, March 28, 2020

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Review UPDATE

UPDATED Star Trek: Picard Finale Notes and the state of modern Star Trek

This is similar to my previous blog post but with added content 






I really hate how they belittled Picard. They really made him look like a sad old man. 


***there are a lot of people who loved this episode and series (probably the same fans who love ‘Discovery’) but sadly I am not one of them***

This show was a missed opportunity to do something very special 


I wrote these notes while watching the season finale 


  • I liked seeing the Stargazer doctor on the show (episode 2 I think)
  • This episode (like most of the episodes) felt very rushed!!!
  • Magic hand held machine provided by Saga last episode fixes Rios ship through the power of imagination...wtf??? 
  • the Cersi Lannister romulan sister was on the cube all along? She didn’t die or was beamed away in ep8??wtf? I really thought we were going to see some brother/sister action...(she asks him if he slept with any of the androids) Creepy 
  • So Agnes was able to lie to the androids? Again ignoring their own continuity. She also uses the phrase “Crypto kung fu” to new Doctor Soong... (fuck off show) Seeing her running around getting Picard and smiling the whole time pisses me off...she’s a murderer!!!
  • Love the Picard speeches 


  • Soji’s flip flopping loyalties (and other characters flip flopping loyalties)
  • Picard and Agnes get back to Rios ship from the android town quite fast considering last episode it seemed to be a long trek (badumboom)
  • Space flowers again!!
  • Picard maneuver 2.0.lame
  • But I did like Picard piloting the ship. This show seemed to have forgotten that Picard was one of the best pilots starfleet ever had. Nice to see him back at the wheel 
  • Commodore Oh line “Ready planet sterilization number 5”.... I wonder if they also have a plan 9 from outer space? 
  • Riker!!!! But his bridge looked like a fan film bridge. Love him talking smack with Commodore Oh. But his fleet is all the same ship, same with the Romulan fleet (cut and paste)? Same with the romulan fleet? Where was the Enterprise???!!!
  • So the powerful ancient AI’s are just gonna not come now because Soji destroyed her comm? Why did it look like Doctor Octopuses arms from Spiderman 2? 


  • Picard conveniently dies due to his brain anomaly. Why did they need to kill him? This could have served as a plot thread for the remainder seasons of ST:Picard 
  • Why didn’t Riker leave at least one of his fleets ships behind to assist his old friend? 
  • Agnes barely knows Picard yet she’s crying profusely at his death. Everyone is crying. Soji is crying and just a few minutes earlier she was trying to unleash death on all organic humanoid life...
  • Some closure for Data (liked that scene)but his uniform didn’t quite fit...plus he looked a little off


  • Where the fuck is Lore???!!!!
  • Picard is an Android now...???



  • So was Data in the first episode not a dream but a communication from the real one? 
  • Agnes kissing Rios...have they forgotten she’s a murderer!!!!???? WTF???? Has everyone forgotten Bruce Maddox was murdered by her!!!???
  • Elnor is supposed to be this bad ass romulan assassin yet we continually see him cry and act like a scared little boy. Space Legolis he is NOT! 
  • Why is Seven a boozer now when in ST:Voyager she was unable to drink? 
  • Rafi and Seven holding hands? So are they a couple now? When did that happen???
  • So is Picard actually dead and this new Picard is just a copy? 
  • What did they do with Picards body? Did they have a funeral? 
  • Picard is 94 years old? (As stated by Doctor Soong junior). Patrick Stewart is only 79 in real life. 
  • Why put him in a old body? Why couldn’t they put Data in an Android body???
  • What’s Rios ship called again? 
  • These evil galaxy spanning synths: now that they know they were being summoned to our galaxy why would they not come on their own? Why is the Federation not on high alert?? These ancient AI’s are obviously more powerful than the Borg or any other threat the Federation has encountered? 
  • They throw the line out there that the federation has lifted the ban on synthetic life... why? Soji was trying to summon an an ancient alien race of AI determined to exterminate all humanoid life...yep let’s just not think about that 
  • Why did they let Commodore Oh leave? She is responsible for a lot of Federation/Romulan deaths?
  • What about all the borg left on the android planet?



Data’s death: I actually didn’t mind Data being there despite his makeup being a little off and his uniform not fitting properly. 

My question is was it Data actually reaching out to Picard in his dream in episode one that got everything rolling? That might have been cool had it been written that way. Also the coincidence of Dahj and Soji looking like the daughter from his 30 year old painting: was that Maddox? 

Also why couldn’t they transfer Data’s conscience to another body if they could do that for Picard? Or make Data a hologram (like the EMH’s)? They could have even given him a more human appearance as a hologram/android. He could have replaced Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of Starfleet’s AI interfaces. Some many possibilities wasted.


Bottom Line: The problem with modern Star Trek is that the people in charge of it do not understand the fundamentals of what makes Star Trek special. Star Trek is supposed to be a positive vision of the future built on cooperation and a respect for all life. It’s supposed to convey a message, it’s supposed to be a show the whole family can watch, it’s supposed to be an inspiration for its viewers/fans. It’s supposed to show a clear and concise story with a beginning/middle/climax and ending. 


In the past Star Trek at times lost their way (like the TNG episodes Code of Honour & Conspiracy) but they always course corrected and got on the proper path. Unfortunately modern Star Trek has not only gone off that path but lost it completely in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. And as long as Trek is under the stewardship of people who do not understand the fundamentals of what made Star Trek the cultural icon it was it’ll never be good or the same ever again. 


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And some social media backlash:









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And my response to Alex Kurtzmans “Tweet”:






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Nuff said. 

Friday, March 27, 2020

Star Trek: Picard Finale Notes and the state of modern Star Trek



I wrote these notes while watching the season finale 


  • I liked seeing the Stargazer doctor on the show (episode 2 I think)
  • This episode (like most of the episodes) felt very rushed!!!
  • Magic hand held machine provided by Saga last episode fixes Rios ship through the power of imagination...wtf???
  • the Cersi Lannister romulan sister was on the cube all along? She didn’t die or was beamed away in ep8??wtf? I really thought we were going to see some brother/sister action...(she asks him if he slept with any of the androids) Creepy 
  • So Agnes was able to lie to the androids? Again ignoring their own continuity. She also uses the phrase “Crypto kung fu” to new Doctor Soong... (fuck off show)
  • Love the Picard speeches 





  • Soji’s flip flopping loyalties (and other characters flip flopping loyalties)
  • Picard and Agnes get back to Rios ship from the android town quite fast considering last episode it seemed to be a long trek (badumboom)
  • Space flowers again!!
  • Picard maneuver 2.0.lame
  • Riker!!!! But his bridge looked like a fan film bridge. Love him talking smack with Commodore Oh. But his fleet is all the same ship (cut and paste)? Same with the romulan fleet? Where was the Enterprise???!!!
  • So the powerful ancient AI’s are just gonna not come now because Soji destroyed her comm? Why did it look like Doctor Octopuses arms from Spiderman 2? 




  • Picard conveniently dies due to his brain anomaly 
  • Agnes barely knows Picard yet she’s crying profusely at his death. Everyone is crying. Soji is crying and just a few minutes earlier she was trying to unleash death on all organic humanoid life...
  • Some closure for Data (liked that scene)but his uniform didn’t quite fit...plus he looked a little off


  • Where the fuck is Lore???!!!!
  • Picard is an Android now...???
  • So was Data in the first episode not a dream but a communication from the real one? 
  • Agnes kissing Rios...have they forgotten she’s a murderer!!!!???? WTF???? Has everyone forgotten Bruce Maddox was murdered by her!!!???
  • Rafi and Seven holding hands? So are they a couple now? When did that happen???
  • So is Picard actually dead and this new Picard is just a copy? 
  • Why put him in a old body? Why couldn’t they put Data in an Android body???
  • What’s Rios ship called again? 
  • These evil galaxy spanning synths: now that they know they were being summoned to our galaxy why would they not come on their own? 
  • Why did they let Commodore Oh leave? She is responsible for a lot of Federation/Romulan deaths?
  • What about all the borg left on the android planet?




Data’s death: I actually didn’t mind Data being there despite his makeup being a little off and his uniform not fitting properly. 

My question is was it Data actually reaching out to Picard in his dream in episode one that got everything rolling? That might have been cool had it been written that way. Also the coincidence of Dahj and Soji looking like the daughter from his 30 year old painting: was that Maddox? 

Also why couldn’t they transfer Data’s conscience to another body if they could do that for Picard? 




Bottom Line: The problem with modern Star Trek is that the people in charge of it do not understand the fundamentals of what makes Star Trek special. Star Trek is supposed to be a positive vision of the future built on cooperation and a respect for all life. It’s supposed to convey a message, it’s supposed to be a show the whole family can watch, it’s supposed to be an inspiration for its viewers/fans. It’s supposed to show a clear and concise story with a beginning/middle/climax and ending. 


In the past Star Trek at times lost their way (like the TNG episodes Code of Honour & Conspiracy) but they always course corrected and got on the proper path. Unfortunately modern Star Trek has not only gone off that path but lost it completely in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. And as long as Trek is under the stewardship of people who do not understand the fundamentals of what made Star Trek the cultural icon it was it’ll never be good or the same ever again. 





Random Pics

Some random pics from my phone:



Some pop culture pictures 

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Our fur babies: our Shitzu Sheba passed away September 2019. Our dachshund Toby is still alive and well and losing weight because his vet doctor said he needed to lose weight. Our cats: kitten is named Potato and the older one is Poppy (she was a rescue kitten). Both cats and Sheba are female, Toby is a boy. 

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Family pictures 




Thursday, March 26, 2020

Podcast This & That

Up and ready for listening right now: 



Initial thoughts on Star Trek: Picard 




And finally:




Wednesday, March 25, 2020

This & That: Family Edition II

More pictures from my iPhone








This & That: Family Edition


Miscellaneous family pictures from my phone. The little baby is my nephew Adrien. The little girl is my niece Emilia. The older boy is my nephew Damien. The lady is my wife Crystal. The middle picture is from the early 90’s: my Granny Lockhart with her grandkids (cousins Irene, Stephen and Andrea. My self and my sister Brianna)




Pictures from the beautiful Dunvegan Gardens near Fairview Alberta. Taken June 2019 on our last trip to visit our Grandparents in Fairview, whom have since moved to St Albert. Those gardens are one of my favourite places to visit on earth. Not sure when we’ll see them again as they are 6 hours north of us and we have no more family up there to visit...



My stepdaughter Kayde and her dog Toby. This is one of her grad pictures as she graduates this year!!!



Wisdom from a great man. 

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

This & That Strikes Back

From the last week: 


A great and wise man. 

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We are going to be recording 2 episodes of The Pop Culture Pub Podcast this week. The outlines are as follows:

Next podcast episodes Topic: Awful...but good

For the next episode we will reminisce about times pop culture things were awful yet good at the same time.  My examples are: 

  • Babylon 5 season one special effects were awful yet they were trying to do something good
  • Star Trek TNG season 1 & 2 episodes were about 80% awful but there were some good ones too
  • Image Comics has some awful business practices (delayed Comics, abandonment of Comics, etc) but they have also made some great comics
AND 

Topic: Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Review


We will be reviewing the entire first season. The finale will air Thursday March 26th. 


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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

This & That

Some stuff to share from my social media, lots of stuff going on lately.
Check out our latest episode of The Pop Culture Pub Podcast! 














Sunday, March 15, 2020

This & That

It’s been a crazy week and a half. The coronavirus is spreading and the world is starting to lock down. Here’s a few highlights from my week