War: What is it good for in Star Trek?

With the new series Star Trek: Discovery just having finished its first season I now can reflect on the series and think about all I have seen and heard with the show. As a 38 year old lifelong Trekker I can say: I don’t really like it. People like to point out that TNG had a terrible first season and for the most part a terrible second one. But what people are forgetting it was the first new Trek series in almost twenty years and was also hampered by limited special effects technology and an 80’s TV series sensibility. Discovery has the benefit of 28 seasons of other Trek to refer to see how to do it properly. The only things that keep me watching in the hopes of them getting better with Discovery is Commander Saru and Chief Tilly.

 

Now speaking of good Trek I have to say that DS9 may be the best Star Trek series ever made thus far. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge TNG and TOS fan but DS9 just has much more going for it than any other Trek TV series. The creators were able to be creative with this series and were not restrained, especially towards the end of the series. For example they allowed real conflict on this series, the last 2 seasons the characters were fighting in a war. Unlike the Klingon war on ‘Discovery’ which seemed weird with no real war feel to it (C’mon the ‘Disco’ crew had a dance party in the middle of a war…) and ended very dumb, the Characters on DS9 were allowed to change and grow, actors were able to act and writers got to write and see their vision become a reality.

 

 

 

 

They had long reaching story arcs and a supporting cast that got in some cases more screen time than the 'main' cast. I loved in particular the long continuing story lines; in the start of season 6 they had 6 episodes that were essentially one big continuing story and the last 10 or so episodes of the 7th and final season followed the same pattern. It was an interesting and rewarding experience for us fans, but it did alienate new viewers who came in and had no idea what was going on. But it just worked better for DS9 rather than Discovery probably due to the fact they spent seasons building up characters and situations. That is probably why TNG was able to create such a big fan and casual fan base, by doing one and done stories. A 2-part episode is all that TNG ever did, whereas DS9 would do 3-part, 6-part, 10-part epic stories.

 

DS9 is the best Trek series in my opinion. TNG may have a better cast and better one and done stories, but DS9 overall told a better epic story. And the actors were great too. But if you are a new viewer to the DS9 universe may I suggest that the first 3 seasons can be hard to get through, because they follow the TNG one and done story telling style, but DS9 seasons 4-7 are the best Star Trek ever made. Maybe skip ‘Discovery’ for now; hopefully it gets better in season 2.

 

And don’t get me started on Discovery and Trek continuity…

 

Mental illness affects many people, maybe even someone you know…

Despite 'Babylon 5' not being in the Trek Universe, and in a way competition to Deep Space Nine, B5 has a special place in my heart. It was truly a great space sci-fi series that was way ahead of its time. It was a series that was better than Star Trek: Voyager or Enterprise.

On September 28, 2012, J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) posted that Michael O'Hare (Commander Sinclair, the series lead in season one) suffered a heart attack on September 23 and had remained in a coma until the 28th, when he died. 

I was very sad to hear this. I was and still am a huge fan of the 'Babylon 5' series and I really enjoyed Michael O'Hare as Commander Sinclair. I remember when season 2 started being devastated that O'Hare would not be returning. I had no Internet back then and had no way of knowing Bruce Boxleitner would be replacing him on the series until the 30 second preview aired. He did make a brief return appearance in Season 2 but made a big splash in the 3rd season 2-part episode 'War Without End'. I had always wished they would have had him back more on the series, especially when they started doing TV movies. I had wanted them to do a 'Babylon 4' movie which would have focused on O'Hare as 'Valen', who was Sinclair transformed into a Minbari. JMS did do a comic book series based on the B4 concept, but I really wished it had been filmed with O'Hare starring in it.

But what we didn’t know at the time was that Michael O’Hara left the series because he was suffering from a mental illness. According to an interview with JMS; O’Hara began to exhibit signs of mental illness. He was seeing conspiracies where there was none, he began to hear voices that were not there. JMS recognized the symptoms of this mental illness and offered him help and they kept what was happening a secret so not to jeopardize the series and everyone else’s employment associated with the series.  O’Hara held it together until the end of season one then they agreed to part on good terms and give another “official” reason for the departure of Commander Sinclair.

Truth is there was and still is a stigma associated with mental illness. Had JMS and O’Hara been honest and went to the network producing B5 at the time they probably would have flipped to hear their leading man was mentally ill and probably would have cancelled the series to save money, thus hundreds of other people depending on B5 for employment would be out of work.  Also, JMS didn’t want O’Hara to lose future acting prospects due to his illness even after seeking treatment.

Even now people hide their illness for fear of losing their jobs or losing respect of those around them. Well if you are one of those people I can tell you not to be afraid, be proud of who you are.

Rest in Peace Commander Sinclair, may you find the peace you sought.

  

Gin & Juice

Funny thing when your a teenager you listen to stuff you don't want your parents to hear, like Snoop Dogg's album 'Doggystyle'. Now as an adult I have to wait till my kids are in bed to listen to the vinyl version of Doggystyle I bought today.

I got into vinyl last summer when I finally bought a record player. This thing is awesome, I can listen to records, cd's, tapes, mp3's, and memory sticks. It can also convert records to mp3 format. Put simply this thing is simple yet awesome.

 So I have bought a few vinyl records in the past few months including the 'Pulp Fiction' soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy deluxe, Nirvana (a 'best of' album). My Mom also lent me her old vinyl collection which is awesome because we have similar tastes in music.

Actual picture of Trump and the NRA being asked about gun control

Chris's Soapbox

Chris's Soapbox 

'Black Panther' review & am I done with 'The Walking Dead'? 

I have been a Marvel comics fan for as long as I can remember. I have made the effort to watch every MCU film since starting with Iron Man (with the exception of 'The Incredible Hulk' because I knew it was going to suck). But in all honesty I knew very little about 'Black Panther' going into this film except for his occasional appearances in the comics I read and his awesome appearance in 'Captain America Civil War'. After having seen the film I can honestly say it is one of the best comic book movies I have ever watched. I could literally not think of anything that should have been done better with this film. Now its not to say some 'Black Panther' comic fans will find it perfect, perhaps my lack of knowledge allowed me to enjoy the film more? 

Regardless it was amazing. The cast was all great, the plot was good and I am looking forward to many more sequels to come. 

I give it a *****5 stars out of 5 rating. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Now on to 'The Walking Dead'. I think I'm getting tired with this show. I literally fell asleep watching the mid-season premiere tonight. I hate they killed off Carl. I really think they could have done some good things with that character in the future, especially considering he's still alive in the comic book and had an interesting storyline with an interesting love interest. My wife loves the show so I'll probably continue on...for now...

A preview of my next podcast project...probably going to launch summer time or fall

See you in the future! 
- CL

Back in Black

Well its been over 3 years since I posted on my blog. Been busy with podcasting, writing a book and life. Well I've recently began working on a couple new books and decided to step down from podcasting (for now), so I decided to go back to the whole blogging thing. I'll be posting new content from time to time, hope you decide to check it out in the future.

In the meantime this is my review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi I wrote a couple months ago. Enjoy!

- Chris

Spoiler Free Rant

What is wrong with you people? Alright I’m not necessarily talking to you who is reading this scribble; I am talking to all the haters out there who are demanding that Disney/LucasFilm pull this film from canon. I came out of this film quite happy with the results and only a few nitpicking things that I did not like. I enjoyed this film more than the previous episode 7. Episode 7 was basically a rehash of the plotlines of the original 1977 Star Wars film (Episode 4: A New Hope), which I didn’t like but I understood this was Director JJ Abrams way of re-introducing a new trilogy for a new era. So with this film they came up with an original story for the characters which drove the narrative forward. It may not have been what I was expecting exactly but that is a good thing. I enjoy going into a film and not being able to guess the plot/story prior to viewing. Was this the best Star Wars film? No it was not but it was not the worst either (Phantom Menace anyone?). The hate this film is getting confuses me. As a lifelong Star Wars fan I truly enjoyed this film.

Oh and the porgs were great! We need more cute/comedic characters in film!

 

I rate it a solid 4 out of 5.

Geek Fallout reached episode 100 in 2014!!!

For Geek Fallout Episode 100

This was the essay I wrote for Geek Fallout episode 100. Now here it is in written form for you to read. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!!

For me it all started with the Random Nerdness Podcast. The first episode of RN debuted October 16th, 2012. I had been inspired to create my own podcast for The Atomic Geeks Podcast Network based on my blog after having appeared on the 'Nerd Lunch' podcast as a fourth chair guest. I had no experience with editing a podcast but as it happens my brother-in-law Sebastian and my sister Brianna had just moved back to Canada from Sweden, and Seb had actually gone to school for sound engineering. When I explained to Seb what it was I wanted to do he was onboard. I recruited my sister Brianna, best friend Tyler Kluin and step-sister Meghan to appear on the podcast and thus the conversation began. After a couple of pilot episodes we settled on a format that worked for Digio and the boys at the TAG Network and thus our podcasting adventure had just begun…

 

Original RN logo, designed by Curtis Sarapuk.

 

Roughly a short time after my initial planning of the RN podcast began I was contacted through the Atomic Geeks forum by Richard Rehder, who was planning another podcast and wanted to know if I would be interested in helping out. I was very interested but told Rich I just wanted to come on as a personality, I really didn't want to try my hand at editing or any behind the scenes work (as I was already doing that with RN). Rich agreed and with Eric Torok on aboard we recorded a pilot episode of the podcast Richard named “Geek Fallout".

It was a fun episode to record for sure; in fact we were having so much fun the first original pilot ran about 3 hours. We really had no format in mind at the time other than share some geek news then have a main topic to discuss. I can’t even remember what our main topic was about but as I said it ran almost 3 hours. Rich edited and sent it off to Michael Digiovanni and Andrew Bloom to listen to and critique. To be honest I don’t think they were impressed. Without really realizing it we had essentially made a copy of their podcast format. Not totally non-understandable as the 3 of us were huge fans of their podcast and as they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Digio asked us to do something different and Bloom asked us to keep our episodes to about an hour in length. At first Rich and Eric were a little disappointed, as was I too but I too went through this critique review with them when launching the Random Nerdness podcast. Eric suggested we should go out on our own and not worry about being a part of the Atomic Geeks Network, but I insisted we be a part of their network as the built in audience that listened to The Atomic Geeks, Nerd Lunch and Classic Film Jerks podcasts would probably give us a chance too.

One of the first podcasts I ever listened to was ‘The Atomic Geeks’, and they were Canadian and they were 'geeks' so it only made sense that we be a part of their network, which the Nerd Lunch and Classic Film Jerks podcasts already were. Rich asked me what we should do and so I told him I would brainstorm some ideas. Later that day I came up with this format:

Geek Fallout Podcast Episode Format Idea: Sept 28/2012 C.Lockhart

Here’s just a quick format idea I was thinking about for the podcast. What do you guys think? Let me know. Geek Fallout: The geek headlines discussion podcast, by geeks for geeks!

Segments:

1-      New Fallout with Richard (15 minutes): Richard moderates as each member of GF brings 3 geeky news items to the table for discussion.

2-      Comic Book Corner with Chris (10-15 minutes):  Chris leads the discussion with the other GF members on comic books, animated films/TV series. And upcoming live action comic book movies and TV shows

3-      Tech Talk with Eric (10-15 minutes): Eric leads the discussion with the other GF members on gaming, new tech, apps, phones, etc.

4-      Fallout On: (15 minutes): A member GF leads the discussion on a specific topic of their choosing.

5-      Final Countdown (10 minutes) Members of GF comes up with a countdown list of something to create discussion. (For example: 5 Hottest Women In Comic Book Movies)

                    Podcast Runtime: 60-70 minutes.

Richard liked the format but unfortunately Eric could not stay after the initial Geek Fallout pilot episode so Rich recruited Jeff Brown to join us. After some tweaking with the format we were off and rolling with episode one. When recording and editing were done Digio and Andrew Bloom again listened to our episode and gave us some good pointers, and after listening to our final cut pilot they accepted us into the network and finally we made our internet debut November 6th, 2012 on Podbean and itunes. 

                                                   

 

In January 2013 Richard told Jeff and I he would have to take a step back from the podcast, he would be able to edit and work behind the scenes but hosting would have to take a break. Jeff stepped up to take over hosting duties and we continued on with numerous guests including Evan Hanson, Marc Ealdama and others from the TAG Network.

 

So during 2013 I continued on with Geek Fallout regularly. Jeff would take over editing the podcast from Richard and I would take over the arrangement of guests as Rich needed to take a further step back ultimately leaving the podcast altogether. However although Rich was away from the podcast he did create the ‘Geek Fallout’ official blog. Rich has done most of the blogging on that site, and although it has not been updated for a few months it still is worth checking out at www.geekfallout.wordpress.com

At the end of summer 2013 Jeff told me he could not continue to edit Geek Fallout every week, so we could either reduce the weekly content or I could take a hand at editing. Since RN was on hiatus anyway I figured I could try my hand at the old editing thing. With the help of my brother-in-law Sebastian, and with tips from Jeff and Richard began editing half of the episodes of Geek Fallout starting September 2013. Since I was now editing and with RN being dormant I decided to tweak the GF format a little bit by introducing RN segments into GF. I even started a monthly comic book episode with regular GF guest star Evan Hanson, and by the end of 2013 we had done 3 comic book episodes. By January 2014 Evan had unofficially been promoted to full time Co-Host status. By that I mean we had bugged him so much to be on the podcast he pretty much was on just as much as Jeff and I were.

 

 

On January 24^th ‘Geek Fallout: The Comic Book Episodes’ podcast launched, based on the episodes Evan and I were doing. Evan and Shawn Robare appeared on the first episode but with episode 2 the regular cast of me, Chris Gaida and Jason Roberts settled into the bi-weekly comic book discussion podcast rotation. Evan continued with Jeff and I on the main ‘Geek Fallout’ podcast. At this same time Evan and I with Dave Kish and Joseph Harvey launched the ‘Trek1701’ podcast. To say I had been bitten with a podcasting bug would be an understatement.

 

Things continued on with Jeff and I splitting editing duties on GF. As we began to approach episode 50 Jeff told me he like Rich would be leaving the podcast. He agreed to stay on till episode 50 but I would have to figure something out after that. I completely understand not being able to stay with a podcast when juggling family and career. I completely understood why Jeff was leaving and I was going to miss chatting with this friend (whom I have never met in person) every week. So I began to search Twitter and the internet seeking out new Co-hosts to join Evan and I on GF. I had been listening to an episode of ‘Nerd Lunch’ and really enjoyed listening to one of their fourth chair guests, a woman named MissM. I immediately checked out her ‘Diary of a Dorkette’ blog and was greeted by an image of She-Ra. Being a diehard He-man myself and a fan of She-Ra cosplay I knew I had to talk with MissM and convince her to join us on the podcast. Lucky for me she actually agreed to join the show!! I also made contact with Brian Farrell and he too agreed to join GF. On episode 51 both MissM and Brian made their podcast debut and have been an important part of our show ever since. Soon after Derek Ash and Erik Johnson too joined the ranks of Geek Fallout podcasters. Geek Fallout Co-Founder Richard Rehder also from time to time makes guest appearances again, and it really is great having him back again even if it is as a guest. Jeff also came back to discuss season 4 of ‘Game Of Thrones’ with us in June.

 

May 23^rd 2014 Geek Fallout jumped podcast episode numbering by going from episode 57 to episode 75 in one week’s time. No we did not have a marathon recording session in that week; we simply changed numbering to accurately reflect how many actual podcast episodes we had done. Previously we had done ‘un-numbered’ podcast episodes from time to time when the discussion strayed from our regular format style. But when asked by someone how many episodes we had actually done I thought it was silly not to have the episode number not accurately reflect the actual episode number. And thus we went from episode 57 to 75, and no I am not dyslexic.

 

And now we are here at episode 100. I must say this is a dream come true for me. I have been a fan of podcasts for years and once I could only dream of talking with those I was listening to. Now I have a hand in creating this listening material for others to enjoy. I get to have regular discussions with great people on a regular basis and others get to listen to our talks. Probably the greatest thing about doing this podcast thing is all the great people I have met and now consider friends. It’s weird having friends most of whom I have never actually met in person, but again that is the great thing about podcasting. I can talk about ‘She-Ra’ with MissM who is in Texas, discuss ‘Game of Thrones’ with Jeff who lives in Ontario and swap wrestling memories with AJ Maggot (host of ‘The Bloke Show’) who lives in Australia. Podcasting is truly amazing.

 

As I said in the title this is The History of ‘Geek Fallout’: A Journey Into Podcasting done by yours truly. I’m sure there is some that I have left out and for that I apologise, but I hope you enjoyed my ramblings. To end this discussion I am writing out a list of guests and podcasters that have appeared during the 100 episodes of ‘Geek Fallout’. If I forgot someone again I apologise.

Richard Rehder, Eric Torok (unaired pilot), Jeff Brown, Evan Hanson, Marc Ealdama, Dave Kish, Mark Dury, Raf (not sure on your last name), Adam Volk, Sharon Copeland, Brianna Rydvall, Michael Digiovanni, AJ Maggot, Chay Lopez, Mike Downs, Christian Nielson, CT, Paxton Holley, Sebastian Rydvall, Monk Torius, Curtis Holomey, Jeeg, Brian Adams (from coolandcollected.com), George Pappy, Crystal Lockhart (my wife), Chris Gaida, Shawn Robare, MissM, Brian Farrell, Derek Ash, Erik Johnson, Joseph Harvey, Jason Roberts, and Carly Vore.

Again I am sorry if I forgot you. Please e-mail me at geekfallout@gmail.com if I forgot you and I will make a correction on a future episode.

Well thank you for taking the time to listen to me ramble on. I hope you stay with our podcast as we intend to continue on and on.

Welcome to the wasteland.

 

Hope you enjoyed this little essay. Thanks again for taking the time to read it. Here are the links to the podcasts, and all are available on iTunes 

www.randomnerdness.blogspot.com

www.geekfallout.podbean.com

www.geekfalloutcomicbook.podbean.com

www.trek1701.podbean.com

www.randomnerdness.podbean.com