Sadly, the Enterprise lost another crew member yesterday. Nichelle Nichols, known best as Lt. Nyota Uhura, passed away at age 89. Scotty, McCoy, Rand, Chapel, Spock, now Uhura. All we have left are Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov. Farewell Nichelle, you shall be missed.
Most fictional universes feature stories built around multiple, parallel story threads. There are usually at least 2: the protagonist and the antagonist. But some are built are more than a pair, and sometimes the creators go a little overboard, and that can push something from being entertaining to now being work.
Corner Gas is, to me, an amazing show. It is simple, fun, completely unpretentious, and thoroughly Canadian. I also think it sets a high standard when it comes to creating an episodic television series.
[Spoiler Alert!] I have been a Trekkie since I was a child, having watched the Original Series shortly after it entered syndication in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s. It was a Saturday evening tradition at my grandparent’s house (along with The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour and Land of the Giants). But I haven’t always liked everything made in the franchise, and lately it has been less than enjoyable for me. But I have renewed faith with Strange New Worlds.
(Warning, Spoilers ahead). There is a recommendation about the order to watch the Star Wars movies in, called Machete Order. It comes from a blog post on Absolutely No Machete Juggling, and it arose because of a dissatisfaction with the prequel Star Wars episodes. It attempts to tell a better story, but after viewing it a couple times, it has some problems.
There are plenty of creators (writers, directors, composers, etc) who end up creating work within a existing universe. Think making Star Wars movies, or writing a Star Trek novel. Often the desire for the creator to put their own stamp on the work bumps up against the “rules” and history of the universe. But how should you approach creating something in a universe that already has rules and history?
The BBC and AppleTV+ released their 5-part series on dinosaurs called Prehistoric Planet this week, featuring the voice of Sir David Attenborough. It focuses on 5 different general biomes at varying times in the cretaceous. It’s visually stunning for the most part, but it has some rough spots. Before you begin this, please note that this review is NOT spoiler-free, so proceed at your own risk.
