On the other hand, if they do depart from a joyless slog from one plot point to the next, people scream “filler” like it’s a crime against humanity. I do have some sympathy for people writing shows, but I agree that too many of these shows began life as single-movie pitches that were padded (or at least never edited down) rather than a traditional mini-series, which is what they are, or a season of TV slimmed down to the high-points.

A lot of things are possible when you have a population that is deeply socialized to believe completely in the cause, and/or has few viable economic options, and/or is literally compelled to do the work. We also have a lot of survivorship bias as the we only see the stuff that was done so well as to stand the test of time. In the early days of Egyptology for example, they would sometimes realize (or learn from the locals because the locals knew best) that the big heap of rubble over there in the desert was actually a pyramid where somebody half-assed it with mud bricks instead of the giant limestone slabs from Giza.

Or, you think you lost one and get the second, but the original was tucked into some zippered sub-pouch all along.

Got a lot of sticktuitiveness.

I don’t think I should go against the grain here.

leave things more open or unresolved or ambiguous, which is simultaneously dissatisfying and refreshing

Agreed, and it absolutely depends on the episode. Also agree that they sometimes (often?) bit off more than they could chew, but in general they weren’t so disastrous that I didn’t appreciate the effort. I imagine there was a lot of compromise and horse trading on those scripts, and people were probably relieved to get out something as good as they got. I like to imagine the Ferengi episodes were generally the penance exacted from writers who insisted on too much self-respect.

I’ve never had a BC, but I have had a sheltie, and Aussi, and a couple of Heelers. The Heelers in particular just treat you like a cow and boop and nip as necessary to make you do what they want. They are brilliant too, but not subtle and don’t seem to view challenges as amusing for their own sake.

If a BC is the master thief carefully working the treasure chest with a lock-pick, the Heeler is the tank who just bashes the thing open, traps be damned, but they’re smart enough to remember to chug a bunch of potions first.

I enjoyed B5 and would consider it one of the shows that did things well. The production values haven’t held up quite as well (except for the prosthetics and hair, which are easily Star Trek quality I think), and I never fully warmed to either station commander, but for what it was trying to be and within the constraints of its budget, it is a really good show.

I did stop watching after the “original” finale though. I didn’t see where it was likely to get any better and I wasn’t quite invested enough to tolerate a significant downturn.

Those are actually becoming an artform of their own. The best ones subtly hint at the areas of focus in the upcoming episode and get your mind tee’d up.

Herding dogs assume they’re smarter than humans. Border Collies are probably right.

I think DS9 and some other shows of the era really hit the sweet spot here. They were mostly contained episodes, but there were overarching narratives lurking in the background, sometimes occupying an episode or two, or a subplot here and there, blowing up around season finales and premiers, although once war broke out the ones that didn’t do much to acknowledge it admittedly felt a bit out of place. That method of storytelling also forced the writers to at least consider character developments that had occurred in prior episodes and not simply ignore them in the name of the quest for syndication.

The modern format can make for some truly great TV (Andor, e.g.) and freeing up the run time without reducing the budget can mean beautiful looking shows, but they don’t work well when you’re basically filming an overlong first draft of a movie script, rather than writing a story (or two or three) that’s meant to occupy 8-12 hours. I also agree with the others who say that a gap of more than a year (and even that much, really… it used to be three or four months) puts all but the most anticipated shows at a huge disadvantage, and god help you if you cast kids in S1.

Only if they get James Gunn to do it, and only if they can find something eye-shaped to graphically pierce.

belaboring every little plot point to connect up to four

That would be one of the “new ones” I was thinking of, and they didn’t even do it well. Leia remembers her real mother, explicitly in the script, so Lucas just says, “nah… it’d feel cooler if she died in childbirth.” Make the nerds hand-wave something about the Force until I can rewrite and re-film Ep6.

Should’ve been with prejudice, as they were so clearly malicious prosecutions.

I believe those motions are still pending.

Prequels were trash, but 3 was the worst of them.

TWO was the worst of them, IMHO, but you deserve credit for realizing that 3 is overrated and a saber battle with lava and a bunch of good guys dying just makes it dark, not good. It has every issue that 1 and 2 do, and adds a few new ones.

Dial back Jar Jar, age Anakin up 5 years, and accept that Liam Neeson is the lead, and you’ve got a halfway decent Star War.

Q: Why did Qui-Gon lose to Maul?

A: He was tired from carrying the whole movie.

Yes, but regardless, the real LucasArts Outlaws is on GoG.

OH MARRRRSHALLLLLLLL!!!

I like Rogue One, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why people love Rogue One. It’s a decent enough Dirty Dozen riff in a Star Wars Skin Suit, but it has terrible pacing, a story that didn’t particularly need to be told, unengaging leads (rewatch after Andor helps some but not entirely), and too much fan service. It’s nice that it allows some whisps of moral ambiguity into the Rebellion, and it’s absolutely saved by the climactic battle, but I do not get the universal and enthusiastic acclaim.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Episode 8 is better.

Dirty NFL secret? Dak is very easy to root for.

Jags fall ass-backwards into a win. They aren’t great, but maybe they’re good?

Free football in Arizona. Coen overthought himself and turned down a FG to potentially go up 6 with 98 seconds left.