This last week's Lower Decks had Tom Paris and it featured him on a commemorative plate from the Voy days.

I got caught up on the Star Trek cartoon that is on Paramount+ called Lower Decks this weekend. It's always thoroughly entertaining, weird, and funny. I love the characters (and some of them remind me of real life people I know), and I'd have to say that the people working on Lower Decks definitely have a passion for the franchise that is quite different in flavor from Discovery and Picard (disclosure: Picard is my least favorite of the new Star Trek offerings).

If you haven't watched Lower Decks and you are a Trek fan, you might want to give it a try, especially if you are a Rick and Morty fan. Most of the "Nu Trek" shows really do take themselves very seriously. In the era of Next Generation Trek, I think DS9 was probably the most serious, but even DS9 lightened the load with episodes like Take Me Out to the Holosuite or any of the Ferengi episodes. That being said, there is nothing serious about Lower Decks. It is one big gag real LOL'ing all the way by screaming old jokes.

In last week's episode, we got a guest appearance from Tom Paris, who was the hot shot pilot on Voyager, and he got voiced by Robert Duncan McNeil (which I love). Tom was probably my second favorite cast member next to Seven in the Voyager show (although pretty much all of the characters were great). I also loved how Boimler referred to Voyager as just "Voy." Bless these nerds for canonizing the way fans refer to the Trek shows. The commemorative plate that Boimler carried with him to get signed was excellent too, as it reminds me of all the Trek memorabilia that's been put out by the Hamilton Collection over the years. Sometimes Trek is at its best when it takes the time to really poke fun at itself, and its fanbase. And this seems to be entirely the thought behind this refreshing Star Trek series.

If a foreign policy proposal is more difficult than asking people to wear a mask during a pandemic it should be dropped immediately.

This week, I randomly got asked by a friend, "What do you think of Afghanistan?" It's a huge question, and this friend that I talk with on a regular basis apparently likes my intelligent input (or different take) on things. She (of course) is familiar with the talking points. She's read many of the op-eds that have surfaced from people who were there...who fought on the ground...who were policy makers...and all the other myriad opinions that have hit the air waves. But she was interested in my take on it, so I obliged.

I said, "Going forward, United States foreign policy should add a person to the cabinet that advises the Commander in Chief using what I call 'The Mask Baseline Question.'"

Intrigued, she asked me, "And what praytell is 'The Mask Baseline Question?'"

"It's very simple," I said. "Someone needs to ask the President before an invasion of another country, before anything really that involves a commitment from the United States this one question: Is what you are proposing more difficult than getting the people in Florida and Texas to wear a mask during a pandemic? Is it more difficult than that? Keep in mind...these are your own people...your own citizens. If the change that you are asking is more difficult than wearing a mask to protect others...forget about it. It won't work. It will be a complete failure."

She was shocked, but intrigued by my premise at the same time. Anyway, I'm being perfectly honest about this proposal. The selfishness and hatred by anti-mask wearers has really opened my eyes. People who were assumed to "do the right thing" never actually did the right thing. And that is the truth, and it is universal across all cultures and all continents. If you are going to ask people in another country who worship a god that is foreign to everything you believe to suddenly respect women, gays, and other minorities...it isn't going to work. That is way more difficult than asking a fellow citizen who speaks the same language as you and who lives in the same country to mask up. That is the baseline. Is it more difficult than getting people in Texas to mask up? It is? Then you'd better drop that idea, because it is doomed to failure.

If people were smart about foreign policy, they would bring this question up often. I think it would save a lot of heartache, time, resources, and lives. I'm just glad that everyone is finally figuring out that we've been gaslighted our entire lives that Americans had any form of unity or did the right thing. We've always been divided. We've always had huge gulfs between what we believe. And we've always been extremely selfish. Knowing the truth about a reality allows you to confront and deal with the reality in ways you couldn't do before. I call this the Trump/Covid silver lining.

The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ is a Wes Anderson-esque journey into a land of smart kids and mustache-twirling villainy.

Because I watched The Bad Batch I was on Disney+. My friend Meg was watching it with me, and as I was navigating the page on Disney+'s splash page, another series caught her eye: The Mysterious Benedict Society. She said, "Can we watch that?" So, I said sure.

Meg had read the book; I hadn't. As a matter of fact, I hadn't even heard of it. As we sat down to watch the story unfold, she was delighted to see characters that she remembered from the book being shown on the screen. Soon afterward, I too became a fan. Then, a few weeks later, I bought a thing on Facebook marketplace that was in Nampa, Idaho, and we went on a road trip of about ten hours to go and retrieve it. Meg asked if we could listen to the audiobook for The Mysterious Benedict Society, and I thought that was a wonderful idea. So that's what we did while we drove all those miles, and the story made the journey all the more enjoyable.

Now, having finished both the audiobook and the series (we watched the last episode this weekend), I can say that it is an engaging screen adaptation. Also (apparently), this show is a classic series of children's books. I seriously had no idea that they even existed...I suppose that is how clueless I am about young adult stuff. The author is named Trenton Lee Stewart, and the first book (which is the first season of the show) features remarkable children doing amazing things. The setting is a sinister academy. And each child has unique traits that makes them suitable to overcoming a task or challenge that even adults would find impossible. The show is clearly geared toward the younger audience, but there's a lot to appreciate as an adult. So, it's not like watching some clearly weird and alien thing like Teletubbies. In fact, it shares a lot of tone with mystery-themed predecessors like The Bloodhound Gang or The Hardy Boys.

Now, the world that the kids inhabit is eerily similar to our own. It is in an international crisis…think all the headlines that worry you every day…and this manufactured crisis talked about on the 24-hour news cycle is aptly named, “The Emergency.” Mr. Benedict, the man responsible for gathering the super talented kids together through extensive (and fun) test-taking, believes that the source of this global panic is subliminal messaging that gets sent out from an island academy of children. The head of the organization is his twin brother, and both of them suffer from narcolepsy.

The showrunner of The Mysterious Benedict Society clearly drew inspiration from Wes Anderson films. So, it’s a real treat to watch. One of the kids has an eidetic memory, which means that everything “sticks” to his mind. Thus, he’s called “Sticky” Washington (his real name is George Washington). However, my favorite character was Constance Contraire. She is a very stubborn, young, and super intelligent member of the Mysterious Benedict Society. In the audiobook, she talks (a lot) in rhymes. This didn’t translate well to the screen adaptation. But her ability to throw shade (and lots of it) absolutely did, as she lets no moment for insults slip by unnoticed.

Mr. Benedict also has three really interesting assistants. One wears yellow all the time, and in the audiobook she is described as resembling a yellow pencil. Her name is merely “Number Two.” The second assistance is Rhonda Kazembe, and the last is a gruff spy named Milligan who has the ability to almost magically disguise himself, and who comes up with some really wild things that actually work (like traveling to the island in a submarine held together by...essentially...duct tape) to rescue the kids. He suffers from amnesia, but even with this lack of memory, he has uncommon skills (as do all of the assistants).

For example, Number Two builds a cottage in the woods in a single night using just an axe. And it is complete with electricity, shingles, windows, and a peregrine falcon. The Mysterious Benedict Society would not be complete without its mustache-twirling villain. Called Mr. Curtain, he is the twin of Mr. Benedict, which makes the story all the more charming, because of the confusion that this creates. And naturally, there is a mad scientist who created the machine beaming subliminal messages around the world to create The Emergency in the first place. The villain, in predictable style, does get away at the end. However, it is clear that he has learned nothing, and the show's ending hints at more evilness that can be explored in the second season (and which will probably be thwarted by the combined talents of The Mysterious Benedict Society).

If you enjoy young adult fare and the Wes Anderson style of film making, I'd recommend this series. It's visuals are a delight to watch, and the story (once you set your adult mind on a shelf for a while) is actually pretty good. I also recommend the audio book, because the narrator does an incredible job reading it out loud and giving voice to all of the characters.

In future seasons I think that the Bad Batch is going to explore the Kaminoan connection to all of Emperor Palpatine's clones.

This weekend, I finally finished watching the first season of  The Bad Batch on Disney+. The series brought full circle the plotline that was started in the first episode when it introduced us to a group of clone soldiers who had various mutations making them a "bad batch" (honestly it is a clever name). We discovered that these "mutations"  had been introduced purposely into them by by the Kaminoan clone scientist by the name of Nala Se (who was a fascinating character by the way).

Nala Se (in case you haven't watched the show or aren't good with names) is the female doctor who served the Galactic Republic throughout the Clone Wars. She was the chief medical scientist on her homeworld of Kamino, and she played a key role in the engineering of the Grand Army of the Republic. She also assisted in the rehabilitation of battle-wounded clone troopers and displayed genuine empathy for the clones in the episodes I watched and remember.

Nala Se was also one of the few individuals who knew about Clone Protocol 66, a secret directive encoded into the behavioral modification biochip of every clone in the Republic military. Nala Se believed that the chips acted as a safeguard against renegade Jedi, so she went to great lengths to preserve the secrecy of Protocol 66 during the galaxy-wide Clone Wars.

One of the really neat things that The Bad Batch did was answer questions that I hadn't really bothered asking about Star Wars. But once those questions were answered, I realized that I really did want to know the answers, and so I was actually really pleased with it. One of these questions was: what happened to Kamino, and why was there no mention of it in the movies A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi? There also hasn't been any mention of Kamino in episodes 7, 8, and 9. Well, it turns out that the Empire destroyed Kamino, because it didn't want the Kaminoans to use their incredible cloning technology to build another army for someone else. The second question The Bad Batch answered was who was responsible for Emperor Palpatine's clones (of which Snoke ended up being one)?

Well, it turns out that it was probably Nala Se, whose life was spared by the Empire in the destruction of Kamino so that her skills could be harnessed for a "super secret" project on another world, working for the Empire. Geeezz, I wonder what that project could have been? Well, it's not hard to guess where this storyline is leading. And I'm sure that we have not seen the last of Nala Se. Additionally, I believe that Dave Filoni (the creator of The Bad Batch) is probably going to treat us in the upcoming seasons to all the things that Emperor Palpatine was up to with the lead scientist from Kamino (while the Rebellion was fighting its Civil War). If you are a fan of Star Wars, you really should watch these cartoons that are on Disney+. Their animation is absolutely top notch, and the storylines are more interesting than the movies by far.

Is Misinformation the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse? All signs point to yes.

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament speaks of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are identified as Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. Now, in this cartoon, we have a Fifth one. And it's hard not to agree with this given the shape of the world today. What do you think? Spot on? I look forward to reading your comments.

Star Wars: Visions poses the interesting idea that maybe Star Wars should have been anime all along.

Mark your calendars folk, because on September 22nd, Star Wars: Visions hits Disney+.  This show has style, and you can only see what I'm talking about by viewing the trailer. It looks like there will be nine episodes. The list, announced by Disney, is as follows:

• “The Duel” — Animated by Kamikaze Douga, who also made the Batman Ninja movie. The voice cast includes: Brian Tee (Ronin), Lucy Liu (Bandit Leader), Jaden Waldman (Village Chief).
• “Lop and Ochō” — Animated by Twin Engine’s Geno Studio. Voice cast: Anna Cathcart (Lop), Hiromi Dames (Ocho), Paul Nakauchi (Yasaburo), Kyle McCarley (Imperial Officer).
• “Tatooine Rhapsody” — Animated by Twin Engine’s Studio Colorido, who also did the movie adaptation of Burn the Witch. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Jay), Bobby Moynihan (Geezer), Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett), Shelby Young (K-344), Marc Thompson (Lan).
• “The Twins” — Animated by TRIGGER, known for Tenga Toppen Gurren Laggen, Kill la Kill, Promare, and many other anime. The voice cast includes: Neil Patrick Harris (Karre), Alison Brie (Am), Jonathan Lipow (B-20N)
• “The Elder” — Also by TRIGGER! The voice cast: David Harbour (Tajin), Jordan Fisher (Dan), James Hong (The Elder)
• “The Village Bride” — Kinema Citrus. The voice cast includes: Karen Fukuhara (F), Nichole Sakura (Haru), Christopher Sean (Asu), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Valco), Andrew Kishino (Izuma), Stephanie Sheh (Saku).
• “Akakiri” — Animated by Science Saru, who made the incredible Keep Your Hands of Eizouken! TV series. Voice cast: Henry Golding (Tsubaki), Jamie Chung (Misa), George Takei (Senshuu), Keone Young (Kamahachi), and Lorraine Toussaint (Masago).
• “T0-B1” — Also by Science Saru. The cast includes Jaden Waldman (T0-B1) and Kyle Chandler (Mitaka).
• “The Ninth Jedi” — By Production I.G, which has done Ghost in the Shell, Psycho Pass, Moriarty the Patriot, and so much more. The voice cast includes: Kimiko Glenn (Kara), Andrew Kishino (Juro), Simu Liu (Zhima), Masi Oka (Ethan), Greg Chun (Roden), Neil Kaplan (Narrator), Michael Sinterniklaas (Hen Jin).

It looks like (from the trailer) that Kylo Ren stopping a blaster bolt midair has been decided upon by the world and judged as "badass," so we are going to see a lot of that kind of thing. Additionally, it looks like someone stops a lightsaber thrust during a duel with the Force. If this is true, I'm surprised it doesn't happen all the time.

I haven't been this excited about Star Wars in some time. I think just maybe it's because it is so different. Of course, Anime is always way over the top on stuff. But why should we continue to pretend that the Force and the Jedi are not "way over the top?" Those powers and what they do are being portrayed exactly as intended, and that's all I've gotta say about that.

I'm bloody excited that AMC is producing a Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice scheduled to air in 2022.

I found out this weekend that AMC is ordering an Interview with the Vampire show. Or, more appropriately, a "Vampire Chronicles" show made after the books: Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned. I read these books many years ago, and I felt that the movie adaptations were actually quite terrible despite having cast the best looking men to be found in the world at the time to fill the titular roles of Armand, Louis, and Lestat. Also, Kirsten Dunst was good in the role of Claudia.

Interview, which was the book that started it all for Anne Rice, was lightning in a bottle. It is a legitimate classic of gothic/horror and dark fantasy. The other books serve to build on the mythology that she started with Interview, and I love that she traced the vampires, their power, and their lineage back to a primal source that had its beginnings in ancient Egypt (you see this in Lestat and in Queen of the Damned). A series is going to have a lot of time to explore this kind of mythology, and we will get to spend time with fascinating characters like Marius, who were crucial to the entire storyline but hardly touched upon at all within the context of the now old films.

I wouldn't want them to explore too much beyond Queen of the Damned. My reasons for this is that I think Rice ended up hitting the hard boundaries of her own imagination. Unlike a lot of modern fantasy and horror writers, she doesn't seem to have much of a capacity for synthesizing new concepts. For a long time, she was a genre unto herself. But now, fantasy and horror tropes are everywhere and the Vampire Chronicles are just one franchise among many.

Rice also had this thing about weird and uncomfortable types of love. Sometimes it seemed to work in the novels, but then there were obvious times when it just came across as creepy. I guess we shall see, because the first episodes are scheduled to appear in 2022. Anyway, color me bloody excited.