Donald Trump's Lies in His First Week As President

Surreality, thy name is Trump. Image from source, Boston Globe.

Before we get to the meat of this story, I want yo to look at this picture. This is the picture that would accompany a news report in a sci-fi story about time travel gone horribly wrong. Or about a parallel Earth "over there," where things are not quite as they are "over here." It's an image you might expect if a crucial historical figure died (or lived) when they weren't supposed to, causing a ripple-effect in the time stream, resulting in bizarre news reports where the Nazis won World War II or New York City was bombed in the Cuban Missile Crisis. You could even expect it in a self-contained fictional universe, like Marvel's Cinematic Universe, or the DC Comics "Arrowverse." But we somehow ended up here, and I'm frankly still a bit outside myself wondering how.

How indeed. The man is clearly--especially now, having witnessed his first complete week--unfit to be President of the United States. He's still "candidate Trump," still bleating asinine statements on Twitter, still floating ridiculous policy statements and retracting them. Still making enemies of other countries and world leaders. Still lying his ass off on a daily basis. But now, it matters.  It's horrific, it's alarming, and it's basically unsustainable at this rate. I quite simply can't imagine this going on unabated for four years without huge damage to our country and to the world. And we thought Barack Obama had a lot to mop up. Who is going to want to come in after Donnie, and squeegee up the mess?

[Excerpt]

Fact checking Trump’s inaccurate statements

Regular readers know that candidate Donald Trump had difficulty with facts. Now that Trump is president, he continues to make misleading statements, based on incomplete information, inaccurate statistics or flights of fancy. Here’s an accounting of his public statements in the first seven days as president, not counting his error-plagued inauguration speech (which had eight problematic claims). . .


Read more at: Boston Globe

TV Listing Previews Trump Inauguration as an Episode of The Twilight Zone

I've been saying for weeks and weeks that it feels like we've fallen into an alternate reality, alternate timeline, or into a false, matrix-like simulation. Moreover, it feels wrong, like we don't belong here, and we need Neo, the Sliders kids, Sam Beckett, Barry Allen or the Legends of Tomorrow to come set things right.

I'm not the only one.

[Excerpt]

Hysterical TV Listing Compares Trump Inauguration To A Nightmarish Twilight Zone

President Trump: The Inauguration

4pm, BBC One/ STV

After a long absence, The Twilight Zone returns with one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history. Sci-fi writers have dabbled often with alternative history stories – among the most common is the “What If The Nazis Had Won The Second World War” setting – but this huge interactive virtual reality project, which will unfold on TV, in the press, and on Twitter over the next four years, sets out to build an ongoing alternative present. The story begins in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president. It sounds far-fetched, and it is, but as it goes on it becomes more and more chillingly plausible. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

Leonard Nimoy, "Mr. Spock" of Star Trek, Dead at 83

Image from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

No. No, no, no, no, no, no.

I know he was elderly. I know he was ill. I know that everyone has their time, and that eighty-three cannot be considered an untimely year to expire. But this was Leonard Nimoy. This is an icon. What's more, he was an icon who was as revered now as he ever was. Even with several announced retirements, he kept coming back to make his fans happy. He appeared in both of the rebooted Star Trek movies, even though every character from the original had been replaced by another actor! He appeared on Fringe, an over-looked but loved sci-fi show to the delight of that core group of fans. He was so wanted for that program, they animated him when he couldn't appear live!

Image from source, Huffington Post

Star Trek is of course what he'll be remembered for most, and it was at conventions (I've been to a few) where I was lucky enough to see him in person. But he was good in virtually everything, and had an amazing voice (perhaps only matched by James Earl Jones, or his former cast-mate George Takei) that added gravitas to anything. We've lost a few of the originals of Star Trek prior to this, including DeForest Kelly and James Doohan. But this one actually hurts. This one is Gilda Radner/Madeline Kahn/Robin Williams-level of sad for me, eighty-three or not.

People who know me, know that I'm a touch slow to compassion, sympathy and empathy at times. I'm awkward dealing with sadness, or really displaying signs of it myself. But dammit, this is a sad day. Dammit, Spock! And RIP, Leonard.

Image from source, Huffington Post

[Excerpt]

'Star Trek' Star Leonard Nimoy Dead At 83

Leonard Nimoy, who was best-known for his role as Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" franchise, died at his home on Friday in Los Angeles, his wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed to the New York Times. He was 83. According to his wife, Nimoy's death was due to end-stage chronic obtrusive pulmonary disease. The star had been open about his condition, and spoke publicly about it last year. "Just can't walk distances. Love my life, family, friends and followers," he wrote on Twitter a week after announcing his diagnosis. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

In Case You Missed It: Too Many Cooks!

Yeah, I know. I'm at the tail end of this one. That's what you get when you don't blog much on weekends, and you get busy after that. But I wanted this here anyway, because it's such a perfect encapsulation of my many pop culture touchstones; a stew of TV and movie tropes all stirred together brilliantly. Though, I'm quite sure it leaves people scratching their heads.

Suffice to say, the longer you watch, the weirder (and more trippy) it gets.
 

Blast from the Past: Star Trekkin', After the Original Series

Back in May, I ran a Blast from the Past that chronicled each movie or television version of Star Trek: The Original Series crew, through the animated series and all of the main cast films. At the time, I promised that the next week's edition would include each non-original cast version of Trek. And I forgot!

My fuzzy shot of LeVar Burton, before I was stopped by
the "no photos!" lady. Who knew?

But today, I did something I seldom do: I took advantage of the fact that I live in Las Vegas. Unbeknownst to me, at some point in the past Vegas has become a huge Star Trek convention site. It used to be Pasadena back in the day when I used to go to these things. But I found out--via Facebook, as it happens--that the big, big show was this weekend. Problem was, I found out on day three of the four-day event. Oh, well. I called up my good friend Dona, my old Trek convention buddy, and we decided to hit it this Sunday, closing day.

It was a good day to go. This year was the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, so almost the entire cast was in attendance, as it happens, today. We got to see their panel, got to see many Next Generation and Voyager stars, up close and personal. And we got to hear George Takei tell stories and field questions! It was really a Blast from the Past. So here, better late than never, is the rest of my Star Trek post.

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) - Though the original crew is of course the basis for the entire franchise, it was TNG that solidified Trek as an ongoing, viable television franchise. Initially it was shaky, with season 1 feeling a bit on the Original Series season 3 level. But it quickly firmed up into an astonishing success.

2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) - This was Trek at its grittiest, and possibly has its richest storylines and highest caliber of acting. It required more than casual viewing, with deep story arcs, spanning years. But it was worth it. My favorite of the Trek series, easily.



3. Star Trek: Generations (1994) - Bridging the gap between Original Series and Next Generation, this movie managed to tell a pretty good story, and kill of Captain Kirk. Oh, sorry. Spoiler alert?

4. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) - When you're on your third live-action TV spinoff, you need to do something to set yourself apart (particularly when one of the others is still running). So Voyager was sort of sent off "lost in space." Much maligned by the fandom (even though they watched every damned episode), still classic writing and acting. And hey (straight) guys, Seven of Nine, am I right?



5. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - Possibly the best Trek movie until the reboot, this movie gets virtually everything right. And that Borg Queen? Terrifying.

6. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) - How quickly they fall. Not a bad story by any stretch, but plays like an extended TV episode. It just feels small by modern day sci-fi standards. Forgettable, and frankly, often forgotten.



7. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) - More maligned than even Voyager, this attempt to go back to the pre-Original Series time was a mixed bag. The acting is still great, the writing too, sometimes. It just didn't always click. And what was with the horrid theme song? But it was still Trek to me, and is--after the rebooted new movie timeline--the only thing on this list that is still in continuity!

8. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) - The death-knell for the original timeline. The movie wasn't bad, in fact I quite liked it. If the bad guy--supposedly a clone of Captain Picard--had looked more like him, I might have liked it better. But it flopped at the box office, possibly a victim of Star Trek burnout. I mean, look at the length of this list and the time overlaps. I had to have Google up on a second monitor just to keep it straight!



And that takes us back around to the new Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, which are Original Series reboot movies. And since they barely qualify as "past," we'll save them for a future edition!

Happy Monday. Engage!

Ender's Game Movie Faces Boycott Over Author's Anti-gay Rhetoric

An image of a movie I will never pay to see (Harrison
Ford or not), from source, NBC News

I'm not usually one for boycotts, as I think they often just provide more attention for whatever is being boycotted. But in the case of Ender's Game, a forthcoming sci-fi movie, that's not really a problem. It is a genre movie based on a popular genre book. It only got made because it has a built-in audience. This particular boycott aims to trim that audience. There may be a "Chick-fil-A" effect, where otherwise disinterested anti-gay folks decide to support the film, but I doubt it is as large a group as gay sci-fi fans and their allies. I guess we'll find out.

So, I'm all for this one. Orson Scott Card isn't just a man with an opinion I disagree with. He sits on the board of The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the group responsible for the five-year battle in California to return the right to marriage equality. He's advocated the overthrow of the United States government should they legalize gay marriage! So, this is both personal for me (as half of a married-in-California gay couple), and a principled stand against a hateful author.

It is interesting, however, that Card seems to think NOM's mission is now futile. That gains him a small measure of a smile from me. NOM has to hate that.

[Excerpt]

'Ender's Game' author Orson Scott Card responds to calls to boycott film

 Author Orson Scott Card is finally speaking out after calls to boycott the film "Ender's Game," based on his award-winning novel of the same title, because of his anti-gay marriage views. . .

Read more at: NBC News

Leonard Nimoy & Zachary Quinto in the Best Car Commercial of All Time

I'm serious. It's funny, and if you guess the twist, you're a better guesser than I am. Hand-injuring applause from this blogger! Very, very good. Live long, and prosper, Leonard (and thank you for continuing to forget that you retired years ago).

Blast from the Past (Bonus): Sigourney Weaver in Alienses on SNL

Every once in a while, I happen upon an old post that is worthy of a rerun. And I think this is one of them. Enjoy.

ORIGINAL POST 08/21/11:

Saturday Night Live isn't as funny as you remember. I don't mean now versus yesterday, I mean it was never as funny as you remember. I've watched since the very first episode in 1975, and am an unabashed fan. Even with its wild swings in quality (often within the same episode), I've stuck with it through thick-and-thin, only abandoning it during the abysmal 1980 season (and even caught a couple of those). As terrific as it could sometimes be in its original years, and successive reboots, it's always been hit-and-miss, with nostalgia painting it "better than it was."


You know how sometimes these days, the "cold open" or the monologue, Weekend Update or the SNL Digital Short might be absolutely hilarious, and then the rest of the show might suck? Yeah, it's always been that way, really. I think it's the nature of live TV. You don't know what's going to work until it's over. A Debbie Downer might only be funny because all of the cast cracked up during the live show. A bit might only work with repetition. But one thing SNL has only rarely been is: funny all the way through.

I can think of two episodes that were. One was a show hosted by Roseanne Barr (Arnold). And the other was the episode hosted by Sigourney Weaver in 1986. Hers was the premiere episode of the season, after the abysmal single season that marked Lorne Michaels' return to the show after a long absence. Though the 1985 season introduced Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz to America, the rest of the cast (which included Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid and Anthony Michael Hall) never clicked, and the show was nearly cancelled. Madonna (the host of the 1985 premiere) even came back to declare the whole season a "horrible, horrible dream."



But in 1986, Lorne Michaels hired perhaps the best cast in SNL history, barring the original. For the next several years, the cast remained intact, and segued along nicely for many more. 1986 saw the introduction of Dana Carvey, Victoria Jackson (batshit teabagger, these days), the fabulous Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon and the sadly departed Phil Hartman. And in that first episode (which also featured Weaver's friend, playwright Christopher Durang and musician Buster Poindexter), SNL aired probably their strongest premiere episode ever, including the first Church Chat, featuring "church lady" Enid Strict. There was the great "Quiz Masters" game show segment. Also, the Derek Stevens "Chopping Broccoli" bit.  Then there was the timely Aliens parody, spoofing Weaver's huge hit movie, called Alienses.



I found and watched this episode (after having had it saved on videotape for years, since discarded) on Netflix. I was disappointed to find that Alienses and a duet with Buster Poindexter (and any other possibly included musical guest) were curiously missing from the episode. Why on earth they would do this, I have no idea. I know that sometimes bits that didn't go ever well are excised in reruns. But Alienses is a fan favorite, with Carvey's colonial marine aping Bill Paxton's character:  "We're shredded wheat, man! We're grated cheese, man!" So after that (very) long introduction, here is Alienses. . .


Sigourney Weaver in "Alienses" by alienfan

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Star Trek Into Darkness

I Can't Wait: Final Season of Fringe Begins Sept. 28

I will be on vacation the last week of September, in beautiful Yachats, Oregon. But that may not be enough to stop me from catching the premiere of the last season of Fringe. The series has been one of my favorite shows, even with all of the jarring twists and turns, alternate universes and constant threat of cancellation. It will be a short, 13-episode season. But HBO, AMC, FX, USA and Showtime have gotten us used to seasons even shorter than that, so it will have to do. And the producers know in advance how much time they have left, so it should be spectacular. I will miss this show.

NBC's Revolution: What are the Odds This One Will Work?

I have seen a few promos for NBC's Revolution, and it makes me all excited, and the pre-teen version of myself. With my bookbag full of comics, and my fondness for Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk and the original Battlestar Galactica. It also captures my geeky affinity for dystopian future novels like Logan's Run, Alas Babylon, Fahrenheit 451, On the Beach, Brave New World, 1984 and more. But you know what it really does? It makes me say, "doomed."

Not only is Revolution on NBC--a seemingly moribund network--it is sci-fi/fantasy. And the track record for that on network television is worse than just spotty. I could rattle off a list of interesting but failed series in this genre, and I will: The Event, TerraNova, FlashForward, Firefly, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Bionic Woman, Day One, Journeyman, Awake, Invasion, Threshold, V, and Life on Mars. I've dipped a toe in more than a few of these, and become ravenous fans of others. And my heart was crushed countless times. Rarely, a show like Lost or Fringe breaks through and is a hit like the former, or barely hangs on each season like the latter. Usually, they make half a season, sometimes a little longer.

And like those last two, Revolution is from the fertile brain of J.J. Abrams. Which is encouraging. But I've had my heart broken so many times. Dare I try again?

Ray Bradbury Dies at 91

My good friend, Rev. Stu of Stupid Monkey Planet Church of Primatheism alerted me to the fact that Ray Bradbury has died. I was quite embarrassed because I'm pretty good at the dead/alive celebrity game, and I'd have sworn he'd previously left this mortal coil. Surely, I had confused him with one of his contemporaries, such as Isaac Asimov. I don't know. But I very much did enjoy Mr. Bradbury's works, including The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. He was amazingly talented, and his works started my love affair with science fiction and dystopian future fiction. RIP, Mr. Bradbury.


[Excerpt]


Me and you and Ray Bradbury

In recent years, following his stroke, Ray Bradbury continued to write stories, which appeared in national publications, by talking to his daughter over the phone. He’d call her up, long distance, and, in essence, talk the story to her; she would transcribe it. He’d go over the result with her later. His hands no longer worked well enough to type, but he was still a storyteller. He said being a writer, telling stories, kept him alive—and he lived to be 91. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

FOX Renews Fringe for Fifth (and Last) Season!

Image from Huffington Post.

If your favorite show was going to be given half a season next year, and then cancelled, you'd probably be bummed out. But we're talking about Fringe here, the wonderfully novel sci-fi series that has lived in perpetual cancellation danger. That it received a fourth season was something of a surprise, so any fifth season--13 episodes though it may be--is fantastic news! And let's face it, some of the best TV series currently running have seasons that long or even shorter. If the show had transferred to Showtime or AMC, it would count as a full season! Anyway, after many heart rending premature cancellations of favorite shows by FOX, I'm sending out a huge thank you for this one!

[Excerpt]


'Fringe' Renewed For 13-Episode Fifth And Final Season On Fox 

"Fringe" fans, consider yourselves lucky: Fox's trippy sci-fi drama has been renewed for a 13-episode fifth and final season. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Science is Cool!: Scientests Trap Antimatter Long Enough to Test It

Scary? Cool? A little of both? Are we going to surpass Star Trek long before the 23rd century?

V and Brothers & Sisters Cancelled

One of these women is really a lizard person. The other
was on V. Kidding! Image from TVLine

If you are a tv watcher, this time of year can be a little nerve wracking. There are shows that are perennially "on the bubble", new shows that barely squeaked through the season that you really like. Or even long-running shows that maybe aren't getting as many viewers this year. I'm doomed to lose favorite shows every year, because my tastes run to programming that doesn't attract mass audiences. You know, science fiction, horror, supernatural stuff. If it's on HBO or maybe The CW, it can get renewed with anemic ratings. But not on the big networks.

I had high hopes for V, ABC's remake of the classic 80s sci-fi series. Morena Baccarin played an effectively creepy alien baddie, and the show had energy and momentum. But it also had some really odd CGI effects, and a serialized storyline that didn't grab casual viewers. I was thrilled that it got a second season, and am not surprised--though I'm sad--that it won't get a third.

Brothers & Sisters is a different story. It's a long-running soap opera of sorts, a very good fit to Desperate Housewives, which it follows. It has Sally Field, who cries a lot yes, but is a great actress. The show is loaded with good actors. I suspect that the decision to end the show had more to do with contract negotiations and behind-the-scenes problems. But this show I really will miss. I think the producers knew it might come to this, with the season finale feeling a lot like a final episode. Turns out, it was.

[Excerpt]

Breaking: ABC Cancels Brothers & Sisters, V, Mr. Sunshine, Four Others



Friday the 13th turned out to be doomsday for Brothers & Sisters and V: ABC has axed both shows. The Alphabet net also pulled the plug on rookie series No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Better With You, Detroit 1-8-7 and Mr. Sunshine. . .
 
Read more at: TVLine

TERMINATED: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver Announce Separation

Hasta la vista, baby? This is sort of a shocker. I know Hollywood marriages can come to an end any time, sooner rather than later, usually. But for some reason, this surprised me.

[Excerpt]

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver Announce Separation



Image from source, HuffPo



Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver are separating.



A spokesman for the actor and former California governor issued a statement announcing the news Monday night. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

FOX Renews Fringe for 4th Season!

Image from source, TVSquad

At the risk of invoking The Greenlee Curse (not the one where people die, the one where shows get cancelled), I'm thrilled to report that FOX TV's Fringe has been renewed for a fourth season! And shoot, The Greenlee Curse can't be blamed for a show not making it after season four (I probably shouldn't have included the five-season Medium I guess). Anyway, I encourage anybody who was ever a fan of Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Eureka, or just about any quirky sci-fi/fantasy series to start watching Fringe already! You can catch up on Hulu or Netflix or DVD or something. . .just do it, already. You won't be sorry.

And oh yeah, woooooooo-hoooooooo!!!!

[Excerpt]

'Fringe' Gets Renewed for a Fourth Season


Fox's 'Fringe' may be on the fringe of Friday night viewing, but that hasn't stopped the network from renewing the series for a fourth season -- and with a vote-of-confidence order of 22 episodes. . .
 
Read more at: TV Squad

ABC's V Returns Tuesday, January 4!

I have high hopes for a great season two of V, the ABC remake of the old 80s cult hit. I really enjoyed season 1, and though it didn't have the impact of Lost or 24, the network must've seen something in it to give the show a renewal. I'm not confident that V will become buzzworthy enough to get to season three. I know how these things usually go. But I'll be there, every episode. Especially since Jane Badler--the evil Diana from the original--will be joining the show as a different (but surely still evil) Diana!  I can't wait.  And the promo is very, very compelling. . .

ABC's V Returns January 4

At the risk of invoking The Greenlee Curse yet again, here's a reminder to anyone who enjoyed V on ABC last season (there are dozens of you after all). I was a huge fan of the original two mini-series, and even of the short-lived NBC series that followed. Were it not for that series, we likely wouldn't have gotten to see Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger in all of those Nightmare on Elm Street movies. So take that for what you will.

As for the new season of V, we may not have a reprise of Englund's "good guy" alien visitor, but there are some returning favorites. Jane Badler, the original alien baddie, returns as the new baddie's momma, and she retains the name Diana. Also, later in the season (or at the end of the series, take your pick), Marc Singer returns, in a different character from his original good guy, Mike Donovan. It may be futile, but I'll be watching every episode.

New Buffy the Vampire Slayer Movie Without Joss Whedon.

Image from Los Angeles Times

Dumbest. Idea. Ever.

Once upon a time, there was a comedy movie called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. It was a silly little movie that put supernatural creatures into a Clueless-type universe. It was a fluffy little concoction, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Then, a few years later, the writer of the movie turned his movie into a TV-series.

The TV version starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, of course, and became--if not a ratings success--one of the biggest cult sci-fi/fantasy/horror/comedy series of all time. The premise of the movie was fleshed out into a rich, sprawling world (the "Buffyverse") that would even produce a spinoff, Angel, starring Bones' David Boreanaz. Joss Whedon (also the creator of Dollhouse and Firefly) was responsible for all of this, and his fans may not be able to adequately support a network show, but they are very, very loyal.

Flash-forward a few years, and vampires are hot.  True Blood splashes gore on HBO, The Vampire Diaries is treading similar waters that Buffy swam years ago on The CW, and Twilight sparkles up the big screen.  But as the ABC summer series The Gates proved, merely having vampires around does not guarantee success. Still, if you owned the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wouldn't you want to use them?

Well, maybe, but they probably should have struck when the trend was a little hotter. All of the above have been around for a couple of years now. Plus, if they had any brains at all, they'd know that the value of BTVS is not in the title or the concept. It's in the creators, writers and actors.  Fans of Buffy are not going to go in for a project that merely shares the name of their show.  Unless by some miracle the thing turns out to be good, it is very likely to be completely shunned by Whedon's fans. Moreover, they're potentially wrecking any future Whedon-involved project based on the property.  Greedy idiots.

[Excerpt]

Joss Whedon responds to ‘Buffy’ news with ‘strong, mixed emotions’



. . .This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths — just because they can’t think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself. . .
 
Read more at: Los Angeles Times


[Excerpt]

Joss who? Meet the writer of the new ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ film

. . .“Generally, I wouldn’t have said, ‘Let’s revive this,’ but Whit’s take is pretty compelling and a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see all of this reimagined. This is a completely new reboot. Tone is extremely important, and you want the audience to realize what is at stake and the peril is real, but at the same time what’s going on should be fun and inviting and keep everyone engaged. It needs to be relevant to today too, and that is what Whit has found a way to do. . .”

Read more at: Los Angeles Times