Trapped in a world he was not designed to cope with, Dave-El (the true Kryptonian name of alleged Earth creature David Long) writes about comics, Doctor Who, Star Trek, politics, the absurdity of the human condition and whatever other nonsense that befuddles his unbalanced mind.
This is.... I'M SO GLAD MY SUFFERING AMUSES YOU!
The Librarians: The Next Chapter is back for a 2nd season and so far, Andrea and I are very much enjoying this new slate of adventures.
The season starts with 19th century Librarian Vikram, newly appointed Librarians Lyssa and Connor with guardian Charlie working as a well-oiled machine against a swarm of mummies to recover a lost magical artifact.
A smiling Charlie charging at the mummy horde, ready to smite them to dust with her sword is so damn awesome.
But the team's effectiveness at dispatching mystical threats belies their personal struggles with doubt and fear, problems that rise to the forefront when the team investigates magical shenanigans at a high school experiencing explosions of hormonal rage.
From left to right: Bluey Robinson (Connor), Olivia Morris (Lysa), Callum McGowan (Vikram), Jessica Green (Charlie)
The 2nd episode of season 2 is “And the Tethered Wish" which is about a freed genie living his best life and seeding chaos wherever he does, granting random wishes regardless of cost or consequences.
Such as when Vikram in a fit of pique with his less experienced teammates wishes he was bound to a more experienced Librarian.
And ZAP! It's guest Star Christian Kane as Jacob Stone from TOS Librarians.
Careful what you wish for. Vikram now has a Librarian partner he can't run away from.
Not for lack of trying. Which gives us a lot of classic physical comedy from Vikram and Jacob as the invisible tether between them keeps yanking them back together.
It never gets old.
The episode gives us... kind of/sort of... a team up between Librarians: TNC and Librarian: TOS. Jacob had been yoinked from a mission with the classic team involving a tribe of Amazons. Lyssa, Connor and Charlie fire up the magic door to sub in for Jacob to complete that mission.
Which we do not see.
After the ad break, Lyssa, Connor and Charlie come back through the magic door to report that Jacob's team is fine, a terrible magic artifact has been recovered and Cassandra no longer has to be Queen of the Amazons, much to her disappointment.
Also Ezekiel stole Connor's watch.
Hey, Dean Devlin, there better be at least some kind of tie in comic book or something to cover that Amazon adventure,OK?
Later this season, Lindy Booth will be back on screen as Cassandra. I'm squeeing like a fan boy for that one!
Speaking of guest stars, Jeremy Swift chews up the scenery as the rogue genie and hey, is that David Tennant's son Ty in an episode?
The TNC gang finds out that Peter Pan and Neverland is real.
And Charlie wears a dress.
Dominic Monaghan is on hand this season as a recurring big bad, Merlin. This Merlin is charming and manipulative, definitely NOT to be trusted.
Season 2 of The Librarians: The Next Chapter looks better than the paper thin low budget production that was season 1.
The world of the Librarians deserves to go on and I do hope TNT picks up The Librarians: The Next Chapter for a 3rd season.
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Season 2 of Batman: Caped Crusader dropped on Prime recently. While the creative minds from Batman: The Animated Series are behind this new series with an aesthetic that recalls the beloved B:TAS, storywise, Batman: Caped Crusader is very much it's own thing.
A film noir take set in the 1940's, B:CC is a more brutally violent, adult oriented version. Unlike B:TAS which had to mindful of a kid audience, B:CC has no such constraints. People can and do get killed and a bad guys call for the death of "that goddam Batman".
Batman's classic rogues gallery gets quite there makeover in this series. The Mad Hatter gets gender switched as Hattie Tetch, a gossip mongering propogandist who tries to sell the public that crime boss Rupert Thorne is an innocent victim of a so-called "justice" system out to to destroy a good and noble citizen of Gotham City.
Edward Nygma is no snivelling, giggling genius Riddler obsessed with puzzles; instead he is a hair trigger psychopathic punk cast in the mold of the mobster archetype James Cagney got famous for playing in the movies back in the early 20th century.
Then there is the Joker. It's hard to get too excited over an appearance by the much overused Clown Prince of Crime. But the B:CC version is something unique. There is the use of the classic Joker toxin that causes his targets to laugh themselves to death, leaving a corpse with a rigor mortis frozen grin. But the Joker himself is no cackling comedian of carnage. Not a lot of laughs or bad jokes, just a quiet, deliberate shadow of death pronouncing a grim judgement on his victims.
As for the man himself, Batman continues to be a stoic humorless vessel of vengeance as he fights an unyielding battle against those who would harm Gotham. There are some flickers of humanity around the edges but this is a Batman with little or no time for anything beyond his unrelenting mission.
Prime dropped all 10 episodes of season 2 at one time but Andrea and I are taking our time to go through these episode one at a time.
Batman: Caped Crusader in it's 2nd season continues to be a rather well made new interpretation of the classic Batman mythology.
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Next time on the Tuesday TV Touchbase:
Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
Lanterns
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
Let's ask Bonnie Chandler, age 64, how she intends to vote in the upcoming midterm election in the face of increasing prices at the gas pump and the grocery store. Mrs. Chandler believes that companies are deliberately keeping prices high to make Donald Trump look bad.
“I’m going to vote Republican. I’m not a woke person. I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist!"
Sounds like Bonnie's been paying attention to der Führer.
Bonnie Chandler will vote against her own self interests to deter made up threats of wokeness, communism and socialism.
Bonnie Chandler, are you stupid?
Studio audience, please help her with the answer.
"YOU ARE STUPID!"
OK, when did this blog get a studio audience?
Lauren DeGirolamo, a 34-year-old Trump voter, says “I feel grocery prices are pretty much at level with where they were during Biden. I know some of the key things that I look for - eggs - have gone down."
Egg prices were high in the first place due to stresses on supply due to avian bird flu which has since been brought under control. (Although recently a shit ton of eggs were recalled for salmonella so we've got that hell to look forward to.) Other than that....
Grocery prices are NOT level with where they were during Biden but are in fact much higher. And you may recall the guy you voted for did not promise to keep grocery prices level with Biden but bring them down.
Ms. DeGirolamo intends to vote Republican this November.
Lauren DeGirolamo, are you stupid?
What say you, studio audience?
"YOU ARE STUPID!"
Seriously, why is there a studio audience? Do I have to pay them? Or feed them?
Margaret Derkach, age 84, can see clearly what's going on in the economy. “The cost of living, as far as homes, apartments and food - the necessities - they have gone up. It’s shocking, shocking!"
So there's hope for Mrs. Derkach, right? Well, maybe? As for her intention to vote this November, she is "undecided".
She knows that Donald Trump “inherited a mess from Joe Biden."
Damn it, Margaret! On one hand, I feel you're so close to an epiphany. You can see the Matrix, right? That things suck because stuff costs too much?
But on the other hand, you are "undecided" how to vote because the economy is something Trump inherited from Biden who has been out of office for nearly 2 years.
OK, weird studio audience that shouldn't be part of a blog, help me out here! What is the answer for Margaret Derkach on the question, "Are you stupid?"
"YOU ARE STUPID!"
Wow! This studio audience is mean! And maybe a bit hungry!
I may need to get some food brought in.
Or reconsider my medication.
To be fair, the name "Donald J. Trump" is not on any ballots this November. But the Republicans who are on the ballots do need to answer for him. They have capitulated to his every whim and completely abdicated their responsibilities to provide any kind of oversight over his godforsaken, misbegotten reign of chaos, cruelty and goddam fucking incompetence.
The path to why shit costs so much right now does not lead to Joe Biden but to Li'l Donnie Trump.
1) Tariffs make shit cost more! Trump slaps tariffs on everything in a mistaken belief they're some kind of magic solution to save the economy when all they do is hurt the economy and the Republicans in Congress has done fuck all about that.
2) The war Donald Trump started makes shit cost more! The war that Trump and his snivelling syncophants have NO idea how to run and NO idea how to end makes shit cost more! And the Republicans in Congress have done fuck all about that too!
The same Republicans in Congress who are currently running to keep their phony baloney jobs by asking you to vote for them.
And if you think voting for them is going to make things better when they are the ones complicit in making things worse?
OK, hallucinatory studio audience, say it ONE MORE TIME!
"YOU ARE STUPID!"
While the electorate is displaying extreme levels of stupidity, let's not think those same Republicans in Congress are off the hook for lapses in intelligence.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. misled the Senator to get his confirmation vote to be secretary of Health & Human Services.
“There are guarantees that were given to me and guarantees that were supposedly going to be enforced by the White House. Among those were not to affect the (vaccination) schedule.”
So Senator Cassidy took the word of a known vaccine skeptic that the known vaccine skeptic would not fuck with vaccines?
I believe my imaginary studio audience would like a word with you.
"YOU ARE STUPID!"
Speaking of stupid and vaccines....
Li'l Donnie signed an executive order calling for separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different shots administered in separate visits.
While signing this order, Trump made outrageous claims of vaccines in amounts equal to soda bottles being pumped into little babies' bodies. He's also still trying vaccines to autism.
der Führer justified his order based on such solid evidentiary basis of "people tell me" and "I believe".
Much like the mythology of Spider-Man did with Spider-Noir, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ventures forth into a black and white world of light and shadow in "A Case of Chiaoscuro".
I gotta say that Rebecca Romijn certainly brings that film noir femme fatale smolder in classic film black and white.
By the time this posts, I expect I will have actually seen "A Case of Chiaoscuro" to find out what the heck is going on, why is everything in black and white?
Is film noir Pike's hair even taller in black and white?
As I am writing this, I have not seen the episode. Sorry but I'm still in recovery mode from the circumstances that caused this blog to go on a week long hiatus. (I'll cover that ground in a few days.)
More film noir goodness with Una Chin-Riley, Uhura and M'Benga.
For a splash of color, here is the poster for a film called Femme Fatale (2202) which starred Rebecca Romijn and was by all accounts not very good.
OK, so sorry for cheating out on the weekly Star Trek post again.
I hope to get back to regular writing on this fershlugginer blog.
Live long and prosper, y'all!
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Oh, one more thing. I snapped this photo in a local Wal-Mart parking lot recently,
An NCC 1701 registery and a Starfleet command sticker? I may be wrong but I think this jeep might belong to a Star Trek fan.
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UPDATE: I have in fact now seen "A Case of Chiaoscuro" and I enjoyed it quite a lot.
So did Keith DeCandido and you can read about it here.
Welcome back to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You.
The paucity of posting has come to an end.
And we end our low content mode with... Plankton?
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Last week, I wrote about the 2023 animated film Nimona which son Dean and friend Jan shared with Andrea and I while visiting the Fortress of Ineptitude last week.
We finished that movie fairly early on that Saturday evening so we made the night an animated double feature.
Which brings us to this week's movie post.
It's... Movie Time!
Today's post is about (and I am not kidding about this) Plankton: The Movie is a 2025 American animated musical comedy film based on the television series Meet The PressSpongeBob SquarePants.
This movie was co-written by Mr. Lawence who is also the voice of Sheldon J. Plankton.
Seriously, I really watched this. I, a 63 year old man, watched Plankton: The Movie.
Plankton attempts yet again to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula.
He is, of course, unsuccessful.
Dejected, he returns to the Chum Bucket.
Normally, the Chum Bucket is a sad, empty, decrepit place.
But not this time.
Karen the computer wife has turned the restaurant into a successful Mexican-themed chum restaurant with an active customer base.
Well, this seems a like a good thing.
Except...
Donald Trump Plankton thinks it's a BAD idea mostly because it wasn't HIS idea.
Plankton expresses his displeasure by burning the place down.
Which leaves Karen supremely pissed off.
Karen removes her Empathy chip and transforms into a super sized multi-headed mecha and goes on a rampage to take over the world without Plankton!
Not exactly sure what the hell brought that on, Plankton turns to SpongeBob to figure out what went wrong and why Plankton and Karen are not on the same page anymore.
Channeling his inner Sigmund Freud, SpongeBob hypnotizes Plankon to relive his experienced with Karen.
Via flashbacks, we see that Karen's original form was a calculator connected to a potato in a petri dish as part of an experiment from Plankton's childhood.
Later at Bikini State University, Plankton upgraded Karen to her current form and they collaborated on a plan to rule the world with a freeze Ray. This plan is thwarted by a human child on the beach.
<Boy, this post is going on a bit long. Sorry!>
Back in Bikini Bottom, Plankton overhears Mr. Krabs say that the Krabby Patty secret formula is what will help him take over the world. Krabs was just engaging in some joking hyperbole but Plankton takes it seriously.
Thus is born Plankton's obsession with stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula.
Plankton and SpongeBob retrieve Karen's original parts from Bikini State University in a plan to regain control of mecha Karen. It doesb't work and Karen just absorbs those parts to grown another head.
This is a job for the Gal Pals: Sandy, Pearl, and Mrs. Puff, where they install Karen's Empathy chip into Plankton's brain. This leads to him having a revelation.
<Is this post still going? Did I forget how to edit? >
It's Thanos vs. Avengers time as mecha Karen splits off into different sections to fight the Gal Pals while Spongebob and Patrick goes to mecha Karen's central engine room which is fuel by potatoes.
Plankton, feeling empathy for the first time, confronts Karen Prime to win back her love.
Karen challenges Plankton's sincerity by offering him the Krabby Patty secret formula.
Plankton actually rejects the formula, citing the greater importance of regaining Karen's love.
<Finally! The movie is over and so is this post! Wait...>
Karen's takes Plankton back and now the two are teaming up to take over the world.
Karen's giant mecha form crumbles because Patrick has eaten all the potatoes.
SpongeBob proclaims he's "a sucker for a love story" to which everyone agrees and celebrates.
<Are we done now?>
Mr. Lawrence, SpongeBob SquarePants veteran and the voice of Plankton, originally conceived this story as potential half-hour special titled, "Karen Takes Over".
With urging from Nickelodeon, Lawrence pitched his idea as a feature film.
And thus we got Plankton: The Movie.
It's been a while since I've sat down to watch anything SpongeBob related but I found this movie to be mostly enjoyable with an interesting spin on Plankton's whole deal. And while Plankton is the Star, the feature makes good use of SpongeBob in his faux Germanic Sigmund Freud persona psychoanalyzing Plankton. Great work from Tom Kenney.
And strong vocal performances from Mr. Lawrence and Jill Talley as Plankton and Karen elevate the rather silly proceedings.
And Plankton: The Movie also has some rather clever musical numbers as well.
All told, Plankton: The Movie is far from any kind of high art but it did make for some good dumb fun on a late Saturday night.
I’m still on a blog break but I thought I would poke my head in a minute to look around.
Normally the Tuesday TV Touchbase is where on Tuesday I touch base on what I’m watching on TV.
Since things are a bit weird on the blog this week, on this Tuesday I will touch base on what I’m NOT watching on TV.
TUESDAY TV TOUCHBASE
Hudson & Rex
After cycling through seasons 1 through 7 repeatedly, Up TV recently began airing episodes from season 8 of Hudson & Rex.
Getting new episodes of a show we like would normally be cause for celebration.
But Andrea and I will not be watching season 8 of Hudson & Rex.
Hudson & Rex is a series about a crime fighting police dog named Rex and his emotional support human, Charlie Hudson, in the Canadian city of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Andrea and I came to Hudson & Rex for the dog but we wound up staying for Charlie, played by John Reardon.
John Reardon has the most beautiful, piercing eyes. And my wife Andrea agrees with me.
Anyway, as of season 7, John Reardon had to step away from the show to address a diagnosis of cancer. While John took time out to go through treatment, Charlie was written out as going to Mexico to save his brother from some trouble he gotten into.
Back in St. John’s, the supporting cast of Sarah, Jesse and Joe took up the slack of being Rex’s emotional support human and taking care of the paperwork after Rex solved the week’s major crime.
Those episodes were weird seeing people like Sarah saying lines you know were originally written for Charlie. But Andrea and I were OK as long as we knew this was just temporary and Hudson and Rex would be together again.
But…
John Reardon’s treatment for cancer went well and he was ready to return to work.
The producers of Hudson & Rex decided to go in a different direction.
At the end of season 7, the gang in St. John’s Major Crimes Unit hear that Charlie Hudson was shot in Mexico and he fell in a river, his body washed away. Charlie is missing, presumed dead.
So the show brings in actor Luke Roberts as Mark Hudson to be Rex’s new emotional support human for season 8.
To quote Rocky from Project Hail Mary, “Rocky hate Mark.”
There are stories and videos online that identify Mark as Charlie’s brother. No, he is not. He just happens to have the last name of Hudson.
While Charlie just sort of fell into the role of being Rex’s emotional support human, Mark is actually a trained K9 police officer so he’ll have a different dynamic in his relationship with Rex yadda yadda yadda I really don’t care.
Andrea and I are giving season 8 of Hudson & Rex a miss.
After season 8 aired in Canada to negative fan backlash and declining ratings, the producers of Hudson & Rex got smart and fished Charlie Hudson out of that Mexican river.
John Reardon and his most beautiful, piercing eyes will return for season 9 this fall in Canada. Those episodes will not hit American television until next year.
Late Nite With Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers and his A Closer Look segments are a much appreciated source of political humor.
So why are we NOT watching?
‘Cause it ain’t there too be watched!
Late Nite With Seth Meyers is on a hiatus.
It is not uncommon for the show to go into reruns for awhile as Seth and his family take a vacation in and around Labor Day. But this break is longer than it has been in the past.
This hiatus for Late Nite With Seth Meyers began August 1st and the show will not return for new episodes until September 21st.
OMG! What if Donald Trump or his cronies do something stupid and/or illegal?!?!
Like sign an executive order to fuck with a safe and proven regimen of vaccines that will only make life worse for everbody?
...you know it's a me a begging off a doing a post.
So here's the deal, Sparky!
Yes, I did watch "Human Best Friend", the 3rd episode of season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
But if you wanna read about it, I'm gonna let Keith R.A. DeCandido do the heavy lifting on this and have you click here.
SPOILER: he didn't like it. To be honest,I'm not sure I did either.
Tomorrow is normally the weekly political post about whatever goddam thing Donald Trump did this week that pissed me off to write a blog post about it.
I'm going to turn that job over to Dave Columbo. Click on the link to his You Tube page to look for his most recent edition of "The Week In Trump".
Gee! How long is this banana break?
I'm eyeballing the Tuesday TV Touchbase as I really want to write about the return of The Librarians: The Next Chapter.
Just in case I don't, go to here for a link to a Season 2 trailer.
I have enjoyed what I've seen so far.
What pray tell is going on here with the blog?
As I write this, I'm feeling a bit tired and unfocused while dealing with some distractions here at the Fortress of Ineptitude.
So I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You is going to be in a bit of a holding pattern for a day or two or.... I'm not sure.
I am sure it'll all be fine and I'll be back to blathering about nonsense and shenanigans in short order.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
While visiting the Fortress of Ineptitude last week, son Dean and friend Jan introduced Andrea and I to an animated movie we had never heard of before.
So let's get a blog post out of it.
It's... Movie Time!
From 2023, the movie is Nimona, an animated science fantasy action-adventure film with a very distinctive style and vibe.
This film takes on some serious world building, creating an almalgam of medieval themes, futuristic tech and present day commercialism and pop culture.
A long,long time ago....
A legendary heroine known as Gloreth vanquished a "Great Black Monster" and enclosed the kingdom with a high wall to protect it from other such monstorious threats.
A thousand years gone, the Institute for Elite Knights continue to protect the kingdom and it's citizens.
Queen Valerin seeks to induct Ballister Boldheart into this society of knights. A decision not everyone is on board with as Ballister is the first commoner to receive this honor.
Ambrosius Goldenloin, a fellow knight and Ballister's boyfriend, is on his side but that's about it.
During a ceremony wherein Ballister is to be fully inducted as a knight, his sword shoots out a laser blast killing the Queen.
It's Ambrosius who leaps into action to disarm Ballister.
Literally.
Ambrosius cuts off Ballister's arm.
It's not enough to stop Ballister from escaping.
But even as Ballister cobbles together a mechanical arm to replace his missing limb, it's hard to stay hidden and find proof he was framed.
The entire kingdom hates him and has labeled him a villain.
Including Nimona.
Hey, that's who the movie is named after.
OK, we've gone through a lot to get to the introduction of our titular protagonist, you might forget the movie is called Nimona and why it's called that.
Well, she's here now. Who the hell is Nimona?
Nimona is a fast talking, impulsive young woman with shape shifting powers and a propensity for creating chaos.
She's decided every super villian needs a sidekick and she's gonna be one for Ballister.
Ballister's insistence he is not a villain, just misunderstood and wrongly accused does little to deter Nimona who plants herself emphatically next to Ballister's side.
Ballister didn't ask for this but he now as... well, a puppy.
As I noted earlier this week, Rosie the dog has a new canine sister, a puppy named London. London is cute and loveable. She is also just bursting with energy and that explodes in bursts of hyperkinetic impulsiveness.
Nimona is like that.
And like London's own sad origin (lost and abandoned until Dean and Jan found her), we will discover Nimona's boisterous confidence belies a somber backstory.
Ballister's not the only one in this story who is misunderstood and wrongly accused.
As Ballister and Nimona buzz through the city looking for clues and evidence to show Ballister was framed for the murder of the queen, we get glimpses into Nimona's psyche and her past.
Nimona as a young girl befriends another young girl who lives in a rustic village. The two girls become fast friends, a status undaunted by the revelation of Nimona's shape shifting powers.
Until Nimona's abilities are exposed to the villagers who recoil in fear and suspicion and urge Nimona's friend to do the same.
Nimona's friend is Gloreth who history lauds as the one who saved the kingdom from the Great Black Monster.
The Great Black Monster otherwise known as Nimona.
The director of the Institute for Elite Knights has discovered Nimona's connection to the legend of Gloreth and poisons the kingdom's citizens against her.
Ambrosius questions Ballister's loyalty to Nimona and her true motives for helping him.
Reeling with doubt and uncertainty, Ballister questions Nimona and this is more than she can stand.
Feeling betrayed by Ballister, Nimona's pain and loss consume her.
The kingdom thinks she's the Great Black Monster?
Fine! She'll give 'em the Great Black Monster!
What follows is an action packed and emotionally fraught climax as Nimona changes from a raging menace to a victim of deep despair who seeks to end her existence to the kingdom's salvation from a dangerous and deadly threat.
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Nimona went through nearly a decade of development hell.
In June 2015, 20th Century Fox Animation acquired the rights for an animated feature film adaptation of the Nimona webcomic by ND Stevenson. The film would be produced by Fox subsidiary Blue Sky Studios with an eye on a 2020 release.
In March 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired Fox. Nimona was delayed until 2021, then to 2022.
On February 9, 2021, Disney announced it was closing down Blue Sky Studios, and Nimona was cancelled.
Former Blue Sky staff members stated the film received pushback from Disney leadership concerning the film's LGBTQ themes and a same-sex kiss.
On April 11, 2022, it was announced that Annapurna Pictures and Netflix had retrieved Nimona from the dust bin.
And the finished film made it's debut a year later in 2023.
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Nimona is very much a unique sort of film with a distintive animation style, mile a second action and rapid fire jokes, subversive satire and yes, rip your heart out sadness.
And the soundtrack rocks!
While watching the movie, I heard a song that sounded familiar.
And it hit me: OH MY GOD! THAT'S METRIC!!!!
I have documented in the past my obsessive fascination with the Canadian rock band fronted by Emily Haines and I was stoked as fuck to hear them in Nimona.
Here's Metric with the song on the Nimona soundtrack, "Gold Guns Girls"
Kudos to Dean and Jan for introducing Andrea and I to Nimona.
To be honest, it was not a movie that was anywhere on my radar and I likely would not have sought it out on my own.
But I am certainly glad I did see Nimona! It was quite an amazing adveture that I really enjoyed.
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Nimona was not the only animated movie we saw last week.
But that post will have to wait until next Saturday.
