Televisual Advent Calendar #10 – The Big Bang Theory

Bazinga!

Bazinga!

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version  in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

I never got into The Big Bang Theory when it was first broadcast. It took me ages to get around to watching it, but when I did, I loved it.

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of “beautiful minds” that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door.

The interwoven stories of the six diverse characters were very funny. Many times I laughed out loud. I really enjoyed the character of Will Wheaton played by Will Wheaton. It was quite bizarre to see an actor portray a caricature of themselves. Of course as the series progressed other famous actors (a fair few from Star Trek) did a similar thing.

I really enjoyed the pop culture references as well as the science stuff. There was quite a bit of stuff that went over my head, I don’t do comics for example. However as someone who has watched Star Trek, Star Wars and other science fiction stuff, I liked how those aspects of popular culture was brought into the storytelling.

The Big Bang Theory

This was a series that I probably binge watched on Netflix rather than watch on a weekly basis on Channel 4 (or was it E4). So when it came to watching the final series 12, I did watch this “live” and was so disappointed about the impact of the advert breaks on the watching experience. I think I have been spoilt with services such as iTunes, Amazon Prime and Netflix. 

It’s one of those things that I find with services such as Netflix, when I think am I making best use of the service, am I getting value for money, do I need to still subscribe? I find with Netflix that when I look at how I am using this service, that something does come along that I want to watch, so I keep subscribing.

Get The Big Bang Theory on Blu-Ray.
Get The Big Bang Theory on DVD.
Get The Big Bang Theory on Amazon Video.
Get The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #04 – Star Trek The Next Generation

Captain Jean Luc Picard

Make it so….

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

There are quite a few series of Star Trek and I do say I am enjoyING Star Trek Discovery and looking forward to Picard next year.

Having reflected though on the different series, I decided that The Next Generation would be the series that made it into this Televisual Advent Calendar.

Star Trek The Next Generation Crew

I never really watched the original Star Trek, I remember seeing a few episodes. I remember watching the first episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation at university, well I say remember, they were shown late in the Junior Common Room and I think I might have drunk a little too much. As I got older, I started to watch a little more science fiction television, I did start to watch Star Trek The Next Generation and really enjoyed it. I hit it when it was in its third series and unlike other TV series I started to watch this by buying the VHS tapes when they came out. I remember having no real idea of release dates, as in the early 1990s we didn’t really have the internet we have today. Every so often I would head off to WHSmith and buy the latest episodes on VHS tape and watching them on my VCR. Some episodes were good and some were not so good.

I really enjoyed season three and season five. Yesterday’s Enterprise is probably my favourite episode of the whole series. A time travelling episode involving an alternate darker Enterprise. Really clever story.

Yesterday's Enterprise

I liked the characters and their interactions. Looking back now, the sets and costumes look very dated, and the effects are very much of their time. However many of the stories are still strong, both entertaining and thoughtful. I was quite sad when the whole series ended, but the finale episode was very enjoyable.

As a result of getting into The Next Generation I did become a bit of a “fan” and have watched and enjoyed the other Star Trek series as a result.

I did enjoy Deep Space Nine, but felt that it was a bit of a copy of Babylon 5. This was different to The Next Generation in that there was a series of long story arcs within the different seasons and an overall arc.

This for some was somewhat of a disappointment, but I quite enjoyed he later seasons of Star Trek Voyager but in the end it wasn’t The Next Generation.

I must have been one of the few people who enjoyed Enterprise, I liked the early days of Star Fleet, but in the end I think it suffered from the weight of the preceding series of Star Trek.

When it comes to Star Trek Discovery, I did think it would suffer from the same issues that I had seen with Enterprise. I will say I wasn’t an early fan, but I gave it some time and now quite enjoy it. I think the revamped style was difficult to grasp within the context of the design of the earlier series, but It grew on me. I did enjoy the second season much more than the first.

I am looking forward to Picard, the next generation of the The Next Generation perhaps…

Get Star Trek The Next Generation on Blu-Ray.
Get Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD.
Get Star Trek The Next Generation on Amazon Video.
Get Star Trek The Next Generation on iTunes.

Star Trek: Picard

I quite enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation: so I am quite looking forward to the new Star Trek series Picard.

It is released on Amazon Prime on the 23rd January 2020.

There is a trailer out which has some old friends in and certainly looks like an exciting series

Quite impressed with the special effects, will be interesting to see how they “improve” the technology and effects from when they filmed The Next Generation

Should be fun.

The Return of Jean Luc Picard

So we now know that next year we will see the return of Jean Luc Picard.

I enjoyed watching Star Trek: The Next Generation when it started back in 1987 and have also enjoyed the other Star Trek series. More recently I really quite enjoyed Discovery and am looking forward to series 2.

At a recent event, Patrick Stewart announced he was returning to the role of Jean Luc Picard for a new series, set twenty years after Star Trek Nemesis. We don’t know much about the series, he may be a Captain still, but probably not. No scripts have been written, but it sounds like they have written a treatment about what the show will be like.

Waiting….

 

50. Spock

Well my first Wallace sculpture was found at the Mall outside the middle entrance. Wallace is painted as Spock from Star Trek and would be probably enjoying a nice cup of Vulcan tea, but no he has a communicator in his hand instead.

50. Spock

The interesting aspect of the Wallace sculptures is the inclusion of the bench. Are you allowed to sit on the bench? It does say “Please Do Not Climb”, but is that about the sculpture or does it include the bench? Whatever the intention, everyone I saw was sitting on the bench next to Spock, who with those hands could certainly give a nasty Vulcan neck grip!

50. Spock

I like how they have given Wallace both the Vulcan pointed ears, but also the eyebrows too.

50. Spock

Back in 2015 I attempted to see and photograph all 70 Shaun the Sheeps I managed to get 62. This time I am aiming to get all 67 sculptures.

I have created this page to record all the sculptures we find.

Download the app to find the sculptures.

Cinematic Advent Calendar #04 – Star Trek VI

“Guess who’s coming to dinner…”

Cinematic Advent Calendar #04 - Star Trek VI

There have been a fair few Star Trek films, out of all of them the one I like best is number six. It tells the story of the thawing of relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. With overtones of the Cold War, this story about an old starship crew (making no apologies for the ageing cast) been put into a situation that isn’t what they are use to or expect is gripping and humourous at the same time.

I do think it was the best of the “old cast” films, I did like IV with the whales and time travel, but at the end of the day, of all of them VI wins out. I do like how Sulu now has his own ship. There is a great supporting cast too with Christopher Plummer and David Warner playing the Klingons with great effect.

It’s hard to believe, but the film is over twenty years old now. So is this one of your favourites, or is it one of other films?

Download Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country from iTunes.

Get Star Trek VI at Amazon.

Watch all of Star Trek all at once




Want to watch the original series of Star Trek, but don’t have the time?

Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered)

Why not watch all the episodes in one go!

Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered), Season 1 – Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered)

Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered), Season 2 – Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered)

Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered), Season 3 – Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered)

Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered)

TNG on Blu-Ray

So they’re going to release Star Trek TNG on Blu-Ray….

Hmmmm

I have a few TNG episodes on VHS, I even have a fair few on DVD, am I going to go and get it on Blu-Ray or iTunes…

I think not.

Seems that one way for companies like Paramount to make money is to constantly re-release stuff on new formats.

I realise I am getting to an age where my existing collections of media are getting old and in some cases will no longer work. My collection of audio cassettes for example are in some cases quite painful to listen to. I have CDs that really don’t like been played. The VHS cassettes in the garage, well if I had a working VCR they probably wouldn’t play anyhow…

At least my DVDs play in the Blu-Ray player… for now…