Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.
Test eighteen of several as I try to troubleshoot blog issues. Will probably be deleted later. Sorry for flooding your feeds.
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61/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The last of the three Prodigy middle-grade novels. Where the first two were set roughly during the break between the first and second half of the first season, this one is set during the gang’s shuttle trip to Earth. In need of a spare part for the shuttle, they find a mysterious moon that may have the part they need…if they’re all allowed to leave.
As with the rest, it’s another fun, quick adventure. To my (50-year-old) eyes, when reading all three back-to-back, it suffered a bit from having so many similarities to the first book, also by the same author: a search for a missing part leads the crew to a mysterious location where they get captured and have to figure out how to escape with the part they need. But for the age range these books are actually aimed at, the similarities might not be as noticeable.
60/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Prodigy kids continue on their adventures, this time following a clue to a planet where they have to face nightmares from their past. This one is a little more Gwyn-focused, expanding on her backstory a little bit.
59/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A fun, quick adventure with the Prodigy crew as they try to acquire a replacement part at a disreputable market, and Dal learns a bit more about command. The first of three middle-grade books released to tie into the show.
58/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I first read this just a few years after it came out, when it was very much a “thing”. A few years ago I picked up another copy and it’s been waiting for the right time for a re-read; apparently this October was the right time. I really enjoyed diving back into this. It’s definitely not something everyone will enjoy, with its multiple narrators, footnotes-within-footnotes, pseudo-academic tone for one through line, and experimental layout. But it has an incredibly effective sense of eerie, creeping dread, and the unusual structure brings the labyrinthine nature of the house into the experience of reading the story. Fascinating and perfect for the Halloween season.
Day 165: Today was this month’s Norwescon planning meeting. Our theme for the meeting was Halloween, so I wore my Jack Skellington shirt, while other people had pointed witch’s hats, Pikachu onesies, a corn costume, an Alf mask, and probably other things that I missed or aren’t remembering. Lots of good progress being made — but lots to do over the next few months as well!
First, the good news: Star Trek Prodigy, including its second season, will end up on Netflix. From Executive Producer Aaron J. Waltke on Mastodon:
At last we can share the news… Star Trek: Prodigy has landed!
Our show is beyond thrilled to be joining NETFLIX for the ongoing adventures of the Protostar crew.
[…]
The possibilities are endless now that the world can see all 40 episodes of Prodigy’s first and second seasons in one place…with the potential for more….
If you wish to see more…viewing the show on Netflix as soon as it drops…is unequivocally the way.
I must admit, I have mixed feelings about this.
The good side, obviously, is that Prodigy’s second season will actually be seen. And Aaron implies that there’s even a chance that, with enough viewership, they might get the option to continue on.
I just hate that this is going to end up (heck, it’s already there in Aaron’s post) being a “PLEASE WATCH IT ALL IMMEDIATELY YOU CAN’T WAIT YOU MUST BINGE IT ALL NOW BECAUSE THAT’S THE ONLY WAY NETFLIX THINKS PEOPLE WATCH ANYTHING AND THE ONLY CHANCE OF EVER GETTING ANY MORE” campaign.
I don’t like binging. I like watching an episode at a time, enjoying the story, letting it play out over time. Especially in shows I really enjoy (like the Star Trek universe), being able to think about an episode, enjoy the fanservice and callbacks, nitpick apart the retconning or mistakes, and generally geek out about it. But with full-season drops and the pressure to watch it all immediately (or, if they do decide to do weekly single-episode drops, to watch the newest episode within 24 hours of its appearance, preferably two or three times)…ugh.
And as someone who has a partner who isn’t as much of a Trek geek as I am, sometimes I don’t get a chance to watch a new episode for a few days — which by today’s standards, apparently means I’m not a real fan, and doesn’t count towards Netflix’s labyrinthine accounting of whether a show actually sticks around and gets more seasons, or suddenly disappears with the next budget cycle.
If it’s something I watch on my own, I watch when and as I can; if it’s something I want to watch with my partner, we watch it on our own schedule, and either way I resign myself to our numbers possibly not counting. Which is unfortunate, but I want to enjoy the things I enjoy, not feel like I have to rush through them faster than I like out of some weird sense of duty or obligation.
I also wonder how physical media factors into this. For instance, I’ve re-watched all of Lower Decks a couple times — but only the first watch was streamed, all re-watches were from the Blu-ray I purchased. Are home media purchases weighted higher because we’re likely to be re-watching things more, even if it’s not tallied in a database somewhere? Or, since there’s no way to tie an individual streaming account to a physical media purchase (well, in a perfect world; these days, who knows?), do they just look at my account as only having watched it once, so I must not be that interested?
Sigh. Streaming sure is convenient, but the backend business model is such trash.
So, yes, I’m happy that Prodigy will continue. I just wish Paramount had actually treated it like a full-fledged member of the Star Trek family and given it the support it should have had from the get-go.
Fingers crossed that this option goes well, though. And all grumbling aside, I really do wish Aaron and everyone else the best with this!
56/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A somewhat surprisingly Catholic approach to Star Trek. Not badly done, though as other reviewers have noted, does give it a very monotheistic viewpoint; though it does note that there are other options, those definitely aren’t its focus. Given that, outside of DS9, religion isn’t often focused on in Star Trek, I found it an interesting approach, particularly the choice to focus on Tori rather than Data, the perennial outsider (though his interest is a present side thread).
Day 158: All is fine now, but the day started with a late-night/early morning trip to the ER due to localized pain on my left side. The doctor thought perhaps kidney stones, but after bloodwork, peeing in a cup, and a CAT scan (my first…now there’s a milestone for you), I came back medically “unremarkable”. Apparently it was just severe gas. The photo was taken about 4:30 am, after four hours there, and an hour before we finally got to leave with a prescription for some medication. Today is completely blown for anything other than lying around in a sleepy, cranky daze.
