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[Kam]

I will have to go back and watch Black Museum now.  I seem to recall that i liked it but can't remember specifics.

[oilcan]

The one that really had me on the edge of my seat was the B/W filmed one with the robot guard dog chasing that poor woman.  Also the shortest episode, though it seem plenty long enough.  One of several that looks at the problem when AI is driven by cold logic and seems unable to attain a conscious understanding.  The reveal at the end is heart-wrenching. 

"Black Museum" has to be taken as comedy, otherwise it is just heart-breaking and sick. 

The terror in "Hated in the Nation" is just visceral.  The one most likely to give me nightmares.  It's plausibility was very high, which was why it was so effective.  I was looking suspiciously at bees for days afterwards.  The story played well off the fears raised a few years back about the Africanized bees in the western hemisphere.  That fear, cubed. 

The storyline of "Metalheads" (the robot dog one) made me think of several old sci-fi stories where civilization has fallen but stupid robots are pointlessly defending property/goods of owners who no longer exist. 

[barton]

...made me think of several old sci-fi stories where civilization has fallen but stupid robots are pointlessly defending property/goods of owners who no longer exist.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury.   And the one with the huge robot that was meant to build highways (can't place author or title atm, but it's an oft anthologised classic)

I liked Callister,  hilarious and dark.  Lots of Easter eggs,  like the face blanking thing from Charlie X ep of the OS.

Saw what is possibly the sweetest BM ep last night,  Hang the DJ.   Might be my favorite,  so far.   No time this am but may rave later.

[oilcan]

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/06/898545962/with-star-trek-lower-decks-a-venerable-franchise-loosens-up

This is what I've wanted the franchise to try for about 40 years.   Unfortunately, not interested in buying another streaming service.   

[barton]

After two episodes of "Maniac" I am uncertain if I want to keep up with this bizarre retro-futuristic dramedy or not. On the one hand, it is beautifully filmed and has touches of sci-fi whimsy (we seem to be in an alternate 1980, which is sorta the future as imagined in 1980, with koala robots that play chess with you, and poop-scooping robots, and everyone drenched in advertising) and A list actors whose characters seem on the verge of interesting psychological breakdowns. OTOH, it's hard to make sense of all the ideas tossed out there, many having that patina of pseudoprofundity that suggests young writers in late night bull sessions who have lost their erasers. And it seems to be going in a Chris Nolan-y Inception-y direction that promises more of the same.

Has anyone seen this series?

[Echo4]

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/06/898545962/with-star-trek-lower-decks-a-venerable-franchise-loosens-up

This is what I've wanted the franchise to try for about 40 years.   Unfortunately, not interested in buying another streaming service.

I'll let you know what I think.

Meanwhile, you might try reading John Scalzi's Redshirts, which doesn't just go for "adult" humor by any means.

[Echo4]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-09-01/nbc-transplant-medical-drama-canada

The show that goes after anti-vaxxers and racists.

[barton]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/entertainment/diana-rigg-dead-avengers-gbr-intl/index.html

RIP Emma Peel! 

[josh]

[oilcan]

A reference to the sixties series "Time Tunnel" ?  Or just sharing a love for trompe l'oeil tees?

Anyone here like "Travelers"?   Speaking of time travel shows.   

And,  while I'm here,  Barton have you caught a West Wing yet?   

[barton]

Answers,  in order:  don't know, yes,  and no.   

Random obs:

The FBI agent's wife in "Travelers" has a sexy overbite.   

If you traveled to 1967 and could have dinner with Lee Meriweather or Julie Newmar,  who would be your first choice?

[josh]

A reference to the sixties series "Time Tunnel" ?  Or just sharing a love for trompe l'oeil tees?

Anyone here like "Travelers"?   Speaking of time travel shows.   

And,  while I'm here,  Barton have you caught a West Wing yet?

The former.

I saw that and Time Tunnel was my first thought.

Travelers didn't hold my attention.

And a chicken farm where they all only have west wings is an odd image.

[Kam]

I loved Travelers.  And even though they didn't mean to end the show after three seasons, the ending was satisfying.

[barton]

A well-done concept of time travel that I'd never encountered before,  which brought up some tough ethical questions.   The ensemble was good,  with clever ironies like the very old man who ends up in the body of a high school athlete.  Also a clever bit with the doctor who has to be "rebooted" and loses all the memories of her romantic relationship with the social worker (who handles it all amazingly well).    Given how many high-concept series falter after three seasons ("Lost" for example), I think maybe ending it was for the best.   

[oilcan]

It was also clever to have a scholarly historian dropped into the body of a heroin addict.

And using children as brief telegrams.   Which I confess I couldn't entirely make sense of.   The logic of the "overwrite" technology seemed a little inconsistent.