Adventures in Linux: Chapter 2: Installing

Man, my Adventures in Linux series has had a slow start... I've actually had half this one completed in a file for months and never got round to finishing and posting. Until now! Of course, now I have a million other posts to do with stuff like printers, video and upgrading to 9.10. So expect those to be done by 2015... at which point I'll need a break to go to cafe 80's on my hoverboard!

So, (way back in the distant days of last June) I’m ready to try Linux. I visited the Ubuntu site and downloaded an installation disc image, burnt it to CD and powered off. I restart the machine, boot from the CD and prepare to begin the installation. Ubuntu will install itself onto a seperate partition to Windows.

Oh, wait, I don’t have partitions. In fact, I don’t know a lot about partitions. Or setting them up. Maybe there’s something in the installer that will do it for me?

Hurrah! There seems to be! Brilliant. So what are my choices?

I can either install over windows, but that would defeat the dual boot option. Or it will set itself up on a new partition. Lets go with that!

Right, I want my Linux partition to be large as I hopefully will end up using it more than windows. So I set the utility to half the disc, 100GB for Windows, 100GB for Linux. It warns me it’ll take a while, which seems fair to me. However, after about 45 minutes, it all crashes. Oh.

I try it again, this time I allow a smaller partition for testing purposes. Just 20GB for Linux. So it goes through fine and Ubuntu installs! Hurrah! Right time to see what works.

Hm, the screen resolutions not great, and I don’t seem to have option to change it to anything else. Interesting. So I better figure out how to install my wireless adaptor so I can search the web for a solution. Oh, it’s installed. Log into my wi-fi. Hurrah! That was easy!

I do a search on my monitor type in Ubuntu. It's an HP w1907v. My search quickly turns up this blog which has someone with a similar situation. Right, so apparently I have to modify my xorg.conf file. Ok, how do I get to that?

Turns out I need to use the terminal. So I start that and I quickly find out about the 'sudo' command, which I need to prefix my commands with. Ok, so 'sudo gedit/etc/X11/xorg.conf' seems to work. Asks for my password and then opens up the xorg.conf in a text editor. Ok, so far so simple. I make the advised changes, which to my relief are really straightforward. You make a new subsection in the file and instruct it with the resolutions. I do this, save the file and restart the machine.

On restart the screen resets itself a few times, and is still at a low res setting. I go to check what I've done, as I do this I get a window pop up asking if I want to activate some drivers for my graphics card. I do. I restart and now my screens fine! Hurrah!

For some time I assumed this was due to the xorg.conf alterations, but recently it occured to me that maybe it was activating the nvidia drivers for my graphics. I'm thinking the latter as on re-installs, I haven't modified the xorg.conf and once the drivers are on the screen resolution is fine.

Next time: Getting my IPod working

Top Ten TV of the Decade

With the end of a one decade and the start of another, I wondered if there was a blog I could do that would reflect on this last 10 years in an original, exciting and thought provoking way? Turned out there isn’t, so I put together a list of the best TV shows of the last 10 years in my humble opinion. I had started this in December, but Christmas distracted me and it wasn’t until @nathwilson set me the task of listing my top 5 episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation that I remembered to re-visit this. I also took the opportunity to turn it around to him as a question, and he was still able to put up a blog before I finished this one! Anyway, onto the list!

10 Heroes
I know, I know, it’s gone completely off the rails since series 2, but man, remember how good series 1 was? Remember? It was so new, fresh original and exciting and had everyone raving about it. For that one series of enjoyment, it scrapes in. I’m a generous man.

9 The IT Crowd
Computer geeks! I can't say enough good things about this show, it's brilliant! And scarily accurate, as someone who helps people with their computing, it's bizarre how ridiculous the queries are when someone can't use a compewter! Favourite moments would have to be when they present Jen with a little box with a light on, claiming it's the Internet, and disguising a fire with an old monitor housing to pass it off as a screensaver. Oh, and anything Moss says. Ever.

8 Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
A comedy entry (that is an entry that is a comedy show, not an entry that I'm joking about), and a show that, the first time I watched it, made me laugh constantly from beginning to advert break and then through the end after adverts. A beautiful parody of cheaply produced horror and over inflated egos with an extra dose of silliness.

7 Being Human
This one just makes it in because it was only just in this decade. But it was absolutely brilliant. Like Doctor Who and Torchwood, it has a uniquely British charm and humour, but then get’s very dark and dramatic. It’s a skillful production that balances both as well as this show does, to sell you the idea of a vampire, werewolf and ghost sharing a house dramatically and build in humour at the daftness of the concept, it’s genius.

6 The Big Bang Theory
How can you not love this show? Enjoyed by nerds and non-nerds alike, for me and my nerdy ways it’s a view of what my life could be like as a sitcom. Also if I were American. And a physicist. Apart from those details it’s exactly the same! Oh, and not so many people fall for my classic pranks.

5 Torchwood
I like Torchwood. Obviously, as it’s in this list. I know that not everyone rated the first series, but hey, there are some classics out there that had absolutely appalling first series and went on to greatness. And there were some pretty good episodes there. A pterodactyl fighting a Cyberwoman? How is that not brilliant? Yeah, some episodes weren’t as good, but I think the end of the series paid off the characters failings from those shows. And then the second and third series just got better and better.

4 Dexter
Came in a bit late to this one, but I love it! It sounded ridiculous to me at first, how can they keep a story going about a serial killer? But they can, and they do it well. Having the killer target only killers and try to adhere to a code to turn his urges to some sort of use is the most fascinating part of it. TV where I root for the murderer is unusual but with Dexter you can make whole series of it.

3 Battlestar Galactica
Back in the 90’s I loved a little show called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was all the wonder of Star Trek but done a bit differently. One of the key writers on that, and Next Gen before it was Ron Moore. He then went on to re-make a 70’s series that I’d sporadically looked at, mainly for amusement and made the most kick-ass epic adventure.

2 Firefly
In some ways, its a good thing that Firefly was cancelled after only a season. That way I can look upon it as a near-perfect series, there was never a bad episode! That’s an awesome achievement in itself even for just a single 13 episode run actually. But there is no episode of this show that I couldn’t put on anytime and enjoy. Characters that are interesting and instantly likable, each with their own distinct development. Add to that a spaceship, some gunfights and the occaisional explosion and bam, brilliance in a 13 episode set.

1 Doctor Who
The show that’s had the most impact on me this decade. Easily. It’s just blown me away, from it’s return, which I was sceptical about. While the modern effects and better budgets and costumes are all very nice, the best thing is that the show’s stayed true to it’s original spirit. It’s retained it’s unique charm and humour and has stayed very British, which is especially nice when we have very little sci-fi here.

I really wrestle with putting 24 in, it had an excellent first three series, but I haven't enjoyed it as much from series four onwards. Series seven came close but then lost it. And if my logic of including Heroes based on early greatness get's it into the top ten, then how come not 24? It just comes down to my personal feelings then, I can watch bad Heroes much easier than I can watch bad 24.

Star Trek: Enterprise has a reverse effect, it started bad and then the last series got really good. I wanted to put it in, it was the main Star Trek of the decade. But I decided against it, even when it was at it's best, it wasn't any comparison to the first three Treks to me.

Finally, there's the shows from the last decade that I didn't watch and ought to! Based on what I've been hearing from people, I really should have watched:

Supernatural
The Wire
House
True Blood
Lost

I've started on House and The Wire! Though there's a new decade starting, what sort of TV are we going to have now? If I repeat this blog in 10 years, what shows will I be raving about then?

Probably still Doctor Who and Being Human!

Top 5 Next Generation Episodes

@nathwilson set me an interesting question the other day. When I say interesting, I am assuming the reader is a fan of Star Trek The Next Generation. If not, it’s less an interesting question, more a nerdy question. But hey, that’s still good! The question was what are my top 5 episodes of Next Generation? Ooh, that is an interesting question. 178 episodes made, and narrowing that down to the 5 very best? Well, that sounds like a blog post to me!

For the purposes of this list, we’re counting 2 part stories as one story. Redemption counts as 1 whole story, regardless of whether I would rank Part 1 as hugely better than Part 2. Or vice versa. Obviously this reduces the total of choices from 178 so it’s more like 168, but that’s still a large amount to choose 5 from. So I had to do some serious thinking. (Thinking, not drinking!)

On my first pass at this, I narrowed it down to ten episodes. That’s a good result for picking favourites out of one hundred but still twice what I need. So I know have to think about the best ones of this lot. Still, it means that I then have 5 more episodes for an ‘almost made it’ list.

The other thing to note is that when I pick my favourites of something, the results tend to vary on my mood. So it may well be that 3 months down the line I might have a different opinion on some episodes. With this in mind I’ve tried to think of episodes that I’ve been consistently able to watch over and over again as well as ones that have had a particular impact on me so hopefully this is the most consistent version of my list.

5: Conspiracy
I first got into Star Trek when BBC2 showed the first season of TNG. I instantly loved it, and at that young age didn’t have the same discerning nature as I do now. Looking back as an older man, I don’t enjoy that many of the first season episodes. But Conspiracy I always loved. It’s a proper high stakes kind of episode, with Starfleet being infiltrated and a starship destroyed early on. Then there’s an old admiral who can beat Worf up and it seems slowly that everyone is being taken over, even Riker! Then yay, Riker faked them out! Plus then they shoot a dude and he blows up! Brilliant!

4: Q Who
I knew I’d have a Q episode in here. Q is awesome. And of course, this episode introduces us to the Borg! I remember being properly freaked out by the Borg. Back in TNG days you see, the Borg where a really tough, damn near unbeatable villain. In later years they decided they were too tough and reduced themselves to a level that could be beaten often by Kathryn Janeway and an Intepid class starship. But don’t get me started there... This was the Borgs big debut and it was awesome. The scary cube ship, the way they just beamed onto Enterprise and ignored everyone, then became impervious to phasers, the casual dissection of a chunk of the saucer section, the self repairing ship, the Borg baby. Man, it was a hell of an episode and had a complete feeling of the Borg being unbeatable and there was no way out. And there wasn’t a way out. The crew weren’t able to pull a solution out at the last minute. Picard had to admit to Q he wasn’t ready for anything and Q pops them back to Federation space. And we all know then the Borg are coming... Brilliant!

3: The Pegasus
I always enjoy this episode. It starts nicely enough with the Captain Picard day bit, which is one of those little scenes I always enjoy because there’s no serious crisis yet, they’re just hanging out. Maybe that’s weird, but I do like those bits. Then the overall story is awesome. The idea of the secret experiments is cool, then the mutiny and the cover up make it all very mysterious and adds a layer to Starfleet that’s different to what we’ve seen before. And of course it gives Picard the opportunity to tell everyone off for breaking treaty’s and being underhanded, which is also brilliant as it involves Patrick Stewart talking. And it adds a very different layer to Riker, making him more than the guy who makes dramatic statements while putting his feet up on the furniture next to Data.

2: Chain of Command
Man, I can’t say enough good things about this episode. It has two of my favourite things about TNG in it. One is a good look at the way things work on a starship, in this case through the disruption that a new captain is causing when Jellico takes over. The other is Patrick Stewart talking! Seriously, the guy is brilliant. And not only that, he’s talking to David Warner! Two Shakespearean masters doing Star Trek scenes together? If that’s not a nerdgasm, you’re dead inside! Or not a nerd. And not just any talking, Picard’s being tortured. Actually tortured. This is a pretty dark and grim story. And it’s absolutely marvellous.

1: The Best of Both Worlds
Ah, the Borg again. Having spoken about Q Who I’ve kinda covered my feelings on the Borg, back when they were tough. This one differs slightly as this time the crew does have to solve the problem themselves. Oh, and the Borg got Picard and assimilated him. It’s an episode that’s just constantly exciting all the way through. It totally wins on ‘can watch over and over any time’ count. And when I was a kid and it was first on I had Borg based nightmares the whole week between part 1 and part 2.

For interest, the other 5 that didn't make it are, in no particular order:

Parallels
How can you not love Parellels? A Worf episode with a really good sci-fi concept, awesome humour, alternate visions of the Enterprise and crew and a regular character death? (Ok, an alternate regular character, but still)

Starship Mine
It's Die Hard on the Enterprise with Picard. Just so awesome. Sometimes Trek tries an episode that's a different style and this is one of those cases where it just pays off perfectly.

Gambit
The two parter where we find out at the start that Picard was killed off screen. No-one believes that, but we're not meant to! The fun is in the discovery of what has happened to him and this story is just that, fun! It's pretty much a romp, with space pirates, guys trying to infiltrate the pirates and always staying just the right side of ridiculous.

Relics
Scotty! It's just so awesome to see him! And such a awesome little tale of the engineer who's out of his time and can't keep up, but comes through in the end. Though it seems daft to send him off in a little shuttle at the end, he's surely going to get himself into trouble...

Tapestry
Q again, with a pretty deep tale about what happens if you did manage to undo the mistakes of your past. Marvellous for the concept and definitely for the Picard and Q exchanges.

I can't believe I didn't mention:
Well I only had so much room, but I did give thought to Unification, Yesterday's Enterprise, 11001001 and Captains Holiday. Also all excellent episodes but not quite in the ten.

Wrath of Khan Hi-Def

Well I was fortunate enough to receive the Original Trek movies Blu-Ray set for Christmas, yay!

So today I've the opportnity to sit and watch some of them. It's morning still, so I've got me a big coffee and assorted snacks and I'm ready to go. I thought for a giggle, I would write a blog as I watch Wrath of Khan. (I'm starting with Khan. I will watch Motion Picture at some point, but let's be honest, when a Trekker gets this set, which film is he most excited about seeing?) Admittedly it's an odd giggle, but what the hey, if I find I've just typed out pointless ramblings, I'll still post it, have you read the crap I write? I just ramble on about geeky stuff! That's what this blog is!!! If I can let some of it out here then perhaps my patient fiancee will be spared some, so she wont completly lose the will to live, so she won't leave me for a non-geek and I won't be alone! It's my future happiness here!

Anyway, I have digressed. First impressions: Not too impressed with the picture. It's no better than the DVD. Wait, hang on, my TV has been moved to a preset colour setup for gaming. I'll just switch it back.
That's better! That's really good actually. Whew.

Sound is also good, I can hear the ship noises all around me in the surround, clear quality. Cool, so hs is good. By the time of my earlier rambling, we're already on the Reliant, orbiting Ceti Alpha V. Or VI. There will be consfusion. Reliant's bridge looks better, some more detail stands out, some clearer blue trims. And the same on the Regula spacelab, lots more shades of browns standing out. Makes it look more 70's than ever!

Ooh, the Ceti Alpha whatever surface looks better. Rock and sand actually clear rather than blurred with the wind.

Hopefully soon I will comment on the movie, not just what things look clearer. But it's always the way when you see a blu-ray of an old favourite. I'm looking forward to hearing @nathwilson's thoughts on Highlander in hi-def.

Uh-oh, Chekov's panicked! This is an awesome shot as the camera pans to reveal the group stood outside the ship as Terrell and Chekov leave it.

Ah, Khan. Why have you aged while your followers all look, frankly, younger than any of your followers from Space Seed? Have they all had children then died out? Apart from Khan?

Ricardo Montalban is always a pleasure. He's doing his creepy bit now. I'd love to hear him talk like that at the post office, just buying stamps in his creepy and dramatic voice.

'AdMIRal?' 'ADmiral?' Brilliant!

'It was only the fact of my genetically engineered intellect that allowed us to survive' Makes me wonder what he did with that intellect? It took beyond normal intelligence to say 'hey, hide in the cargo containers and let's make some protective clothes!' did it? Oh, t I'm doing that thing where I try pick holes in it. Strangely it's a symbol of how much I love this film is why I do it! Seriously!

Ugh, the ear slugs. They're so gross, I remember as a child not being able to look at this bit.

Ah, here we go, they're coming to the Enterprise! Always love these bits.

Sulu's 'I'm delighted, any chance to go aboard the Enterprise' is such an awesome line to reflect the fan feelings for the movie. We're all delighted Sulu!!

I am a bit disappointed these blu-rays are the theatrical releases, as I've come to love the extra bits in the directors cut on DVD. Still, it's the version I grew up watching so I'm not going to complain too much.

Enterprise leaving Spacedock. I always enjoy bits like this, with all the lights coming on.

It's a fun sequence when Spock has Saavik take the ship out. Slightly odd, I don't know why Kirk is that worried, Sulu's steering after all. But Saavik's face when she's asked to take the conn, while and Admiral stands behind her! She's a Lieutenant though, shouldn't be too tricky. Hell on Voyager they'd give Ensign Kim the bridge for night shifts. But I'm in no mood to get into a Voyager discussion now, I'm in a good mood!

Slightly confused why Marcus doesn't expect the Reliant for 3 months if Ceti Alpha VI checked out. What would they be doing for those 3 months? Always enjoy Chekovs uncomfortable grinning while he tries to fake his way though the communication.

Going to have to pause it now, I need to run grab my charger.

Got it, right, where are we. Ok, Kirk's had a slightly odd conversation with Saavik in the turbolift. Not really sure why there's a thing about her hair. Anyhow, now Kirk recieves the communication from Carol Marcus. Excellent, now things are starting to happen! It's excellent, the first half hour sets up the necessary histories for Khan, puts the other players into place and sets the collision course as the Enterprise is summoned that way. It's building the excitement to the confrontation perfectly. Now we have Kirk and Spock discuss he command issue so we can bypass that tricky Admiralty issue with Kirk, also serving to give Kirk and Spock another nice moment, got to show the friendship that makes these two characters.

Khan's friend is trying to dissuade Khan from facing Kirk, pointing out that with a ship and freedom from exile, they don't need to hunt Kirk down. This shows that Khan has an obsession to go with his vendetta. So if we didn't already know he's dangerous...

The Genesis device. I start to realise just what a packed movie this is, beyond the veangeful Khan, the hijacking of the Reliant and everything leading to the confrontation, we now have the ultimate weapon of biblical proportions. Just to through an awesome concept in there. But it never feels rushed, which is good. There's a lot going on, but it all seems to flow naturally in the story. And of course means that we can have a Spock/McCoy exchange with the good Doctor getting emotional! Always a joy! 'My god, the mans talking about logic!'

Ah, Reliant approaches! Have to say what a masterpiece James Horners score is for this movie. Perfect all the way through, it perfectly enhances the mood for each scene.

I love the sequence of shots with the command chair in the middle, so you get a sense of the Khan/Kirk conflict with them facing each other in mirrored shots, even before Kirk knows he's facing an enemy.

Kirk looks utterly defeated when Khan signals demanding surrender. Caught unawares and the ship crippled, he actually looks defeated. But in the course of the conversation you suddenly realise he's planning. He's playing for time and he's worked out a plan. Suddenly he's Kirk again. And the music shifts perfectly to accompany this, which is marvellous. You go from despair to excitement so quickly, right up to Kirk's explosive response! (which is what I believe it's called on the soundtrack.)

Of course, the euphoria of the counter attack is suddenly cut short when Scotty arrives with the injured engineer. Scotty, why have you bought him to the bridge? Sickbay you dumbass!! Thankfully Kirk turns him round and gets him to sickbay, but too late. Of course the directors cut reveals that lad is Scotty's nephew, which I think adds a bit and frankly gives Scotty more impact in the film in which he has little to do but make repairs.

Another beautiful moment when Spock tells Jim to be careful and McCoy leans forward and pointedly retorts, 'WE will'.

The space lab is kinda creepy now it's all empty. Hey look, someone stuffed Chekov in a shoe cupboard! Walter Koenig's best tearful acting! 'Made us say lies!!' Then when Kirk talks to Captain Terrell, Chekov stares blankly towards the camera. Look at his unsettling stare! He barely blinks!

Kirk and Spocks coded exchange is marvellous, once you know it, it's so blindingly obvious!

Kirk's stunned look when he realises he's been punching his own son is funny. Another plotline in there! There's loads.

Wait! Chekov's turned traitor! Those dirty ear slugs! Terrell shoots himself, Chekov just collapses and the slug moves out. Gross.

Ooh, we know what's coming up! Kirk taunts Khan that he's 'managed to kill just about everyone else' and Khan realises he can just maroon Kirk there. What can Kirk say to that? Well, Shatner contorts his face in rage and screams 'KHAAAAAN! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!' I bet William Shatner loves it when people go up to him in the street and scream that at him!

So Kirk and Carol have a little chat about their son and we see the Genesis cave, a little demonstration of the scope of the device. Kirk reflects on feeling his age again, which has been recurring through the film.

Now the revelation that Kirk cheated on the Kobyashi Maru, (wonder if we'll ever see that!!) and cockily says 'I don't like to lose' then hails Spock! Perfect timing. Explains to Saavik that him and Spock coded their earlier conversation and they head to the bridge. Now we're all excited for round 2!

The climatic battle in the nebula is awesome. It's very tense, as the ships could see one another any moment. Having them blindly search for each other makes for very exciting sequences. Horribly tense as well when you realise the Reliant is heading straight for Enterprise before they do. But naturally Kirk gets the edge and Reliant comes off worse. Of course, Enterprise has taken damage and main powers out. Uh-oh...

It's Spock who see's Khan's weakness, pointing out to Kirk that Khan's pattern is 2 dimensional. So Kirk decided to use up and down as directions. And isn't it an incedible moment when Enterprise rises up behind Reliant!? Now Khan's gonna get it! Woo! Explosions!!

Of course Khan is a stubborn bastard, so though his ship's all but destroyed, he's still gotta try to kill everything in sight, even if it means he goes down too. He's activtings the Genesis device and quoting like a madman. It's fantastic of course, he's a marvellous bad guy. Obsessed, veangeful, intelligent, literate and a ham.

Hey, where's Spock going?

Deforest Kelly is doing a great Karl Urban impression here. Hey, Spock's nerve pinched him! Remember? Remember what? Hey, don't go in there! There's radiation!

He never listens.

Of course as Spock opens up the thing he works on, it sounds like Scotty shouts out 'Nooo, bad dog!' Never worked out why.

When Kirk asks the time and Sulu says 'we're not going to make it are we?' I'm always reminded of The Corbomite Maneuver, when Sulu counts down to Balok destroying the Enterprise and is accused of an annoying fascination. Seems he's a bit defeatist.

Yay, warps back on line, and they escape!

Again, the music changes tone when Kirk notices Spock's empty chair. Brilliantly done. And Kirk's race to engineering is intercut with the birth of a planet so well.

I always smile when I remember watching this with my fiancee. Scotty says Spock's dead already, but Spock stumbles to his feet, so Faye said 'he's not dead, that guys a rubbish doctor.' So I had to point out Scotty's an engineer. Since then she's had tremendous trouble telling McCoy and Scotty apart.

There's little I can say about Spock's death. It's done very well and is a very emotional scene. For the funeral, Shatner plays Kirk so well as a man desperately trying not to break down in front of everyone. Shame about those sodding bagpipes though. They always spoil this bit for me. Particularly for a Vulcan, I think that song is an odd choice.

So we have a resolution on the Kirk's son thing, so we see David accept his father. It's a good scene, though I always thought it was a little unnecessary as they just kill David off later so the whole Kirk has a son thing for me seemed pointless.

Now I see it's more about Kirk aging storyline in this film, finding himself with a grown son he never saw. And the last scenes underscore new life and new beginnings, he now has time with his son and there's a new planet and he feels young again. I think that might have been what they were going for.

It also reminds me to have another go at reading a Tale of two Cities.

And to further underscore the new life, looks, there's Spock's torpedo on the planet and he's going to do the 'Space, the final frontier bit.'

And credits!

Wow, that makes for a long blog! Excuse any errors, my proofreading will be tricky this time. But those are some of my thoughts on Star Trek 2 as I watched it. Sort of a rubbish commentary. You could put the film on and read this as you go! Or probably not.

Anyway, I'm going to watch 3 next, after I go to the toilet. I'm not doing a commentary blog with that though, I'm tired from typing!

Convenient Amnesia

Last week I was having a debate with a aficionado of the superhero world regarding the TV Series Smallville. Basically he banned watching of it in his house, due to it's 'factual inaccuracies'.

Factual Inaccuracies, I should clarify, refer to the differences between events portrayed in Smallville and ones portrayed in the comics. Or the movies.

Now I'm not always the biggest fan of Smallville. I found that the earlier series had a fairly poor 'monster of the week' format with the recurrence 'oh X found some Kryptonite and it mutated them with weird powers' kinda stories. While it grew out of that and improved greatly, I still tended to find the episodes a bit hit and miss in places. But overall I've found it generally annoying.

So I countered this statement of factual inaccuracies, by pointing out that Superman gets a new origin story pretty much every decade. Add to that the fact of the DC multiverse allowing for either infinite or at least 52 versions of Superman, can you not just let the differences in story slide and enjoy it as a different take on the Superman legend? I mean the basic key elements are there, he's from another planet, sent to earth when Krypton was destroyed, crash landed in Kansas and was raised on a farm. Sure, I guess that there's some character appearences that can feel a bit 'gimmicky' and don't always reflect the characters as we know them from the comics. Bart Allen's appearence as a superfast thief for instance. But then everytime Bane is portrayed by any Batman thing that's not the comics I get mad, so Smallville's transgressions in that area barely register.

So the following point of annoyance that was raised, is that why would characters like Lex Luthor not remember Clark and the odd occurances from their youth? Well, this is fine, assuming, that the grown up characters will revert to the accepted status of film and comics. Again, as an alternate reality, I'd argue that this Lex Luthor could concievably investigate Clark forever. But, and I liked this point, is that argument not just ignoring the concept of future storylines? They way that after the Phantom Menace came out, everyone cried out 'Why doesn't C-3PO remember all this stuff?' Ok, 'everyone' is an unfair generalisation, but I heard the question a lot. Did all those people forget that a trilogy means 3 films? Which, minus the one you just watched, leaves two more films to go? But surely a story which involved Threepio forgetting he knew Anakin and so on, would be a vast epic that could never be contained in a mere 2 movies? Oh, wait, they say at the end of Revenge of the Sith that they'll wipe his memory. Ok then.

In the same vein, I would imagine that there's scope in future Smallville storylines to have traumas occur that cause characters to forget key facts. Actually, now I think about it, that happens in Smallville every third episode doesn't it? How many times did someone find Clark's secret only to suffer conveniant amnesia 3 minutes before the end credits?

Anyway, it was a fun discussion. Right up till the point when someone said that Smallville using Green Arrow was good, certainly better than using Green Lantern. After all, what's the point of a guy with a magic ring that doesn't work against yellow?

And that's when I got mad...

Spoiler warnings

I've been thinking lately about how I watched my favourite sci-fi shows in my youth and how I see them now. Things are a bit different. For a start there was no internet back then (not as a common household fixture at least). Also, as a child, I had much less awareness of news articles. The upshot is that I was happily watching my favourite shows with little to no idea what might be coming up.

As an example, when I first started watching Doctor Who it was in the 80's. When Sylvester McCoy became the Doctor, the first time I saw what his outfit was like was when I watched the show. Now I don't know if this was due to a lower amount of coverage of the show at that point in it's history or my own general ignorance of the media. I suspect the latter. But that doesn't happen now. It's almost impossible to have missed the shots of Matt Smith in his bow tie. It's similarly impossible to have missed the media follow up to the announcment of his casting. Or David Tennant's announcment he'd be leaving.

With the recent Star Trek movie, I'd had a informal policy of not letting myself get too excited by it, to avoid possible disappointment. (So not an issue in the end!) As such I'd not sought out any information about it really. However, despite this, I went into that movie knowing that it involved Kirk going to the acadamy, a Romulan enemy, a time travel element and the appearence of the older Spock. Those are fairly key points to the story and they were really widely known. But I remember the days when each episode of The Next Generation was a complete surprise to me, I never had any idea what could be happening.

I'm basically missing the times when I could watch a tv show or film that I'd love and be in complete ignorance of what awaited me. I'm probably being a bit unrealistic in thinking this could ever really be re-captured though. Nor am I placing any real blame on anyone. After all, I could avoid this information. Though in fairness, to properly avoid all information, I would have to forgo the internet, newspapers and tv news to be completely safe, and I'd end up cutting myself off from a lot of information.

And it's not just spoilers. Though those are the worst parts of it. To really be able to enjoy a production in complete ignorance of upcoming plot twists or character appearences, I'd have to avoid reviews. General news of upcoming releases. Cast and creator interviews. Even trailers. And in a lot of cases I enjoy these things. If I see of an interview with Leonard Nimoy, I'm probably going to find it interesting and wouldn't want to deprive myself of it purely because he might let something, although minor, slip about the Star Trek movie.

The main reason this has been on my mind is the realisation of how much we already know about the Doctor Who specials coming over christmas. I won't list all the things that I've heard about in case you are forunate enough not to have heard them. And what I have heard are many things that just make me more excited about seeing it. There's some awesome stuff in there and I can't wait to see how it all comes together. And that's why a lot of this information comes out. It's to promote the show/movie. Give a preview, get people excited, bring in the fans, have a success.

But there's a little part of me that has a wistful longing for ignorance. It wonders how awesome would that episode be if I were to watch it knowing absolutely nothing that was happening? Imagine if I didn't even know it was to be David Tennant's last show? Imagine! How mindblowing a climax would that be??

But all shows need some promotion. After all, a mindblowing episode of Doctor Who with constant surprises would be useless if I didn't know it was on.

I do think sometimes it would be fun to have that childlike ignorance of the media and internet reports and enjoy everything as completely new and surprising.

Though I suspect todays youth probably have a lot more exposure to this information.

Been being nerdy

Crap! Crap crap crappity crap! I've gone almost a month with no post! So much for posing more regularly! And I got a netbook for my 30th (thankyou Faye!), so there's not really a good excuse, I should be able to post a blog anywhere! I am hopefully going to post more, but I have filled my time with nerdy activities.

I was a bit unsure what to talk about. Obviously there was the Doctor Who special recently, but you know what? I've been massively in a Star Trek mood of late. So I'm going to reflect a little on some of my Star Trek viewing in the last month.

I got the 2nd series of the original Trek on DVD for my birthday. I got the 1st series a few months back and have watched a few episodes here and there, but slowly been working through it with my fiancee who, bless her, is enduring this experience to share time with me. So far we've found that when I say 'this is one of my favourites!' she normally doesn't like it! And I mean she doesn't like The Corbomite Maneuver or Balance of Terror. I am aghast! However, she apparently enjoyed Miri, The Conscience of the King and The Menagerie, so all is not lost. On top of this, she has the charming habit of pretending that she thinks the recent movie is part of the same continuity to wind me up. And an odd thing that she keeps mixing Scotty and McCoy up. I can't figure that last one out, but I don't think that's a deliberate thing!

Visually these remastered episodes look amazing. The picture is all cleaned up and looks great. The effects shots though...wow. All the shots of ships and planets in space have been replaced with new effects. And they look really good. But more than that, they don't look hugely out of place. A lot of effort has been put into replicating the style of the original series effects. The Enterprise moves and orbits like she always has, but as a cgi model looks more like a spaceship than a model of one. And in many cases things have been beefed up. Planets all look better, and shots of outposts on planets look awesome. Watch The Naked Time for a great example of this.

I don't know if there's been a negative reaction to these sets, I've deliberately avoided finding out. It's one of those things that I can imagine 'purists' ranting that it spoils the feel of the episodes and the original effects are part of the charm. If so that's fine, but I enjoy the new visuals, and I always found the charm of the original series to be in the characters and the stories. And these are as strong as ever.

I may get a little defensive here, but I've got the feeling on occasion that I'm not supposed to 'get' the Original Series as much as i wasn't around in the sixties. Y'know what? i think I do get it. I enjoy these episodes as much as anyone. Right, ok, deep breaths...
So recently I've noticed McCoy's moments a lot more than I think I ever did before. I'm not sure why, but in my recent viewings, Deforest Kelley has really stood out for me. Maybe it's because I've become disillusioned with Shatner and his childish arguments with George Takei, (FFS you're both pensioner age, grow up!) but then there's the awesome character moments with Kirk and McCoy, Spock and McCoy and Kirk and Spock that are also standing out for me more than before.

I also wondered if it's part of this thing that people also say about Star Trek that it represents a hopeful future with a better world. So when I was younger I like the idea of a future where the silly conflicts of earth were resolved and we went out into space. Because, y'know, space! (Odd, I don't even like to fly...) As I grew, I appreciated the resolution of these conflicts more. Star Trek showed a society built on equality and tolerance, it was something that our current society should be aspiring to.

So maybe at this time in my life I'm appreciating the various relationships in my world and finding the core friendships of the 3 main characters in Star Trek to be something that resonates a little more with me than before.

It's an odd amateur psycho-analysis of myself that I've veered off into here!

I watched the new movie again this week. Still loving that. And I found that the core friendships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, while not developed as they are in the series, are key points in the movie. They made tremendous efforts to lay the seeds and I think they've got a good handle on it. There's enough going on between the three of them that I can see it establishing. Hopefully the next film will give some time to showing us a more progressed friendship. I particularly want to see some Spock/McCoy exchanges. Those moments were unequalled, though DS9 had some marvellous Quark and Odo moments. But yeah, in the next film, I want some Spock McCoy arguments, and the climactic confrontation should be driven by Kirk finding a plan from the extremes of Spock's logic and McCoys emotion. Oh and some explosions! Loadsa explosions! I know there's a lot of talk about Khan, but isn't the point of the last film that they have a whole new direction to go play with? I know you could go many different ways with Khan, I've read some suggestions. But I still think Klingons, explosions and Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship is the way to go! After all, and I shouldn't say this after the successful recasting that Star Trek demonstrated, but who could really play Khan like Ricardo Montalbahn??