• What Did You Watch? 2026-07-19 (Sunday)

    From Ubiquitous@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 04:30:41 2026
    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    What did you watch?

    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The True Melissa@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 07:01:14 2026
    Verily, in article <UBI20260719@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net
    deliver unto us this message:

    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    That channel is a great find.


    What did you watch?

    I watched some more Best Medicine. This one was a little aggravating
    because I'm not sure I agree with its ham-handed messaging. It
    romanticizes small-town life to an extreme.

    Port Wenn has found a sister city in Norway, called Fjordhaven. A
    delegation of two has arrived in Port Wenn, where a lavish welcome has
    been prepared. Everyone finds the visitors charming, but Martin's
    suspicious. He digs and eventually learns their secret: they are
    conspiring with the evil mayor to build a salmon farm in Port Wenn's
    bay. The terms of the deal are extremely beneficial for the town, which
    will see direct economic benefit and likely some tourism as well.

    The mayor was wise to conceal this deal, because the idiotic townspeople
    are horrified at the prospect of leaving poverty. They're also upset
    about their tiny school closing, though the mainland schools their kids
    will now attend are likely better. They literally start ripping up
    decorations at the idea of a non-token economic relationship.

    There is one kid in town who appears to have some sense. Martin should
    adopt him and flee back to the mainland.

    I'm still enjoying the medical mysteries, but this episode didn't have
    one. It was the first of a two-parter, and I'm hoping a bizarre disease
    will arrive in part two.

    What did everyone else watch?

    --
    The meek shall inherit, we're told,
    But I'm not so easily sold.
    For supposing they should,
    It would do them no good --
    They'd lose it at once to the bold.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From anim8rfsk@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 11:44:25 2026
    Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    What did you watch?


    Hey, thanks for asking!

    My Doctor Who marathon has ended due to the unbelievable incompetence of
    AMC + however I found the American movie with the one shot Dr on the gray
    and downloaded it; haven?t watched it yet.

    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ian J. Ball@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 17:14:10 2026
    On 7/20/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:

    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    What did you watch?

    I'll try to do a catch-up tomorrow.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 17:44:29 2026
    On 7/20/2026 11:44 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
    Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    What did you watch?


    Hey, thanks for asking!

    My Doctor Who marathon has ended due to the unbelievable incompetence of
    AMC + however I found the American movie with the one shot Dr on the gray
    and downloaded it; haven?t watched it yet.

    Well, my run of watching (and screencapping) NuWho will be ending in the
    not distant future as I am about half-way thru season 7 and the box set
    I have only has the first 7 seasons plus some specials.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Arthur Lipscomb@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jul 20 19:14:46 2026
    On 7/20/2026 5:44 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 7/20/2026 11:44 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
    Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    I watched:

    DOCTOR WHO
    https://www.youtube.com/live/5CQDBA4Gfv8?si=U6cEYFCTCeOtDTn_

    What did you watch?


    Hey, thanks for asking!

    My Doctor Who marathon has ended due to the unbelievable incompetence of
    AMC + however I found the American movie with the one shot Dr on the gray
    and downloaded it; haven?t watched it yet.

    Well, my run of watching (and screencapping) NuWho will be ending in the
    not distant future as I am about half-way thru season 7 and the box set
    I have only has the first 7 seasons plus some specials.


    Almost my turn to watch...


    This is a multiday catch up. I recently watched:

    Bloodsport (4K disc) 1988 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van
    Damme plays a kickboxer who enters a competition involving a bloodsport.
    When another competitor who Van Damme cares about is injured during a
    fight Van Damme goes all in to defeat the evil fighter and bring honor
    to the sport.


    Kickboxer (4K disc) 1989 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van
    Damme plays a kickboxer who enters a competition involving a bloodsport.
    When another competitor who Van Damme cares about is injured during a
    fight Van Damme goes all in to defeat the evil fighter and bring honor
    to the sport. You know, I think I recently watched another Van Damme
    movie that had a very similar plot.


    Timecop (4K disc) 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme
    plays a cop in the future year of 2004 who is part of a secret law
    enforcement agency that polices time travel. Mia Sara costars as Van
    Damme's love interest and damsel in distress. And Ron Silver stars as a
    U.S. Senator who is using time travel to steal money so he can be
    president. This is a very frustrating movie to watch. There is a good
    movie buried deep, deep, inside of this one somewhere. I'm sure of it.
    But it's buried under so much stupid, that it never sees the light of
    day. There is zero logic to any of the time travel in this movie. They
    don't even pretend to try to explain it! The way the law enforcement
    system works doesn't make any kind of sense. Not once do they ever take
    the slightest bit of interest in how exactly are the criminals time
    traveling. Within the movie, reality is altered due to time travel
    multiple times, and no one at the time policing agency seems to care in
    the slightest. To the degree that Van Damme cares it's more or less an afterthought due to how it interferes with his making an arrest. The
    only saving grace for this movie is Ron Silver's scene chewing. He
    seemed to be the only one in the movie who actually wanted to be in the
    movie. Everyone else was phoning it in.


    Cyborg (blu-ray) 1989 movie directed by Albert Pyun. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as a guide who
    is hired by a cyborg scientist to get her to Atlanta where scientists
    hope to use the information in her data banks to develop a cure for a
    plague. As low budget flicks go, this is OK. Especially given who the director is.


    Nemesis (blu-ray) 1992 movie directed by Albert Pyun. Olivier Gruner
    stars as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop. The movie holds up extremely well thanks to the cast. Although this movie is a prime example of style over substance.
    Nevertheless it stands the test of time seeing as how it's been ripped
    off by many other movies over the years.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f__8Qvr_T-w


    RoboCop (4K disc) Paul Verhoeven's classic 1987 movie starring Peter
    Weller as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop. The movie holds up great. When I went to put the disc
    in, I noticed there was the director's cut and the theatrical cut both
    in 4K on separate discs. I got a good chuckle out of that. That
    theatrical cut will *never* be watched! At first, I was going to skip
    the commentary in favor of the Dolby Atmos track, but in the last moment
    I broke down and turned on the commentary track. It was an excellent commentary that gave a deep dive into the making of the movie. I have
    to give much respect to the people who put the commentary together.
    During the scene when RoboCop takes down the drug warehouse, the guy
    stops talking, the audio turns up and you can hear that wonderful score
    and dialogue during the scene, then when the scene is over the
    commentary resumes. Now that's how you do a commentary track!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPy2NimLCAw


    RoboCop 2 (4K disc) 1990 sequel written by Frank Miller and directed by
    Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back). Picking up pretty much where
    the first movie ended RoboCop continues his to protect and serve while
    putting more bullets in the bad guys than there are grains of sand on
    the beach. It holds up well enough. I liked the commentary on this
    one, it was the same guy who did the commentary on the first movie and
    once again he made a point to stop talking during key action scenes.


    RoboCop 3 (blu-ray) 1993 sequel, directed by Fred Dekker, which replaces
    or kills off most of the cast from the first 2 movies and goes from hard
    "R" to child friendly PG-13. Everyone seems to hate this one. Except I
    was a child in 1993. So, I never had the hate for this one that others
    have. I watched with the director's commentary, and it was mostly snark
    and explaining everything he did wrong and would do different today. To
    be fair, he has very good insight into the problems with the movie and
    his ideas for what he should have done are spot on. He also talked a
    bit about how this movie completely killed his career. Looking at his Wikipedia filmography page it goes from RoboCop 3 in 1993 to being
    credited as writer of "The Predator" in 2018 and nothing in between or
    since, other than a few uncredited projects.


    RoboCop (4K disc) 2014 reboot. Joel Kinnaman stars as a cop who is
    blown up then rebuilt as a cyborg cop. Unlike RoboCop 3, which I
    thought worked even with the PG-13 limitations, this movie fails due to
    it's PG-13 limitations. I find it watchable, but it could have been so
    much better if they stuck closer to the original's blueprint. I think
    if you are going to remake a movie then *try* to make the remake better
    than the original. I'm not saying a remake of RoboCop *could* be better
    than the original, I'm saying it's pretty clear to me that they didn't
    even try to make it better.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jul 21 04:00:37 2026
    On Jul 20, 2026 at 7:14:46 PM PDT, "Arthur Lipscomb" <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    Timecop (4K disc) 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme plays a cop in the future year of 2004 who is part of a secret law enforcement agency that polices time travel. Mia Sara costars as Van Damme's love interest and damsel in distress. And Ron Silver stars as a U.S. Senator who is using time travel to steal money so he can be
    president. This is a very frustrating movie to watch. There is a good movie buried deep, deep, inside of this one somewhere. I'm sure of it.
    But it's buried under so much stupid, that it never sees the light of
    day. There is zero logic to any of the time travel in this movie. They don't even pretend to try to explain it! The way the law enforcement
    system works doesn't make any kind of sense. Not once do they ever take
    the slightest bit of interest in how exactly are the criminals time traveling. Within the movie, reality is altered due to time travel
    multiple times, and no one at the time policing agency seems to care in
    the slightest. To the degree that Van Damme cares it's more or less an afterthought due to how it interferes with his making an arrest. The
    only saving grace for this movie is Ron Silver's scene chewing.

    No, sir. The movie stars Mia Sara, who has grace far in abundance to Ron
    Silver in so many ways.

    Nemesis (blu-ray) 1992 movie directed by Albert Pyun. Olivier Gruner
    stars as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop.

    So basically RoboCop without the budget?

    RoboCop (4K disc) 2014 reboot. Joel Kinnaman stars as a cop who is
    blown up then rebuilt as a cyborg cop. Unlike RoboCop 3, which I
    thought worked even with the PG-13 limitations, this movie fails due to
    it's PG-13 limitations. I find it watchable, but it could have been so
    much better if they stuck closer to the original's blueprint. I think
    if you are going to remake a movie then *try* to make the remake better
    than the original. I'm not saying a remake of RoboCop *could* be better than the original, I'm saying it's pretty clear to me that they didn't
    even try to make it better.

    I had no idea this even existed. I may have to track it down just for the
    sheer morbid fascination of it.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jul 21 06:12:58 2026
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    This is a multiday catch up. I recently watched:

    Bloodsport (4K disc) 1988 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van
    Damme plays a kickboxer who enters a competition involving a bloodsport.
    When another competitor who Van Damme cares about is injured during a
    fight Van Damme goes all in to defeat the evil fighter and bring honor
    to the sport.

    His first movie!

    Timecop (4K disc) 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme >plays a cop in the future year of 2004 who is part of a secret law >enforcement agency that polices time travel. Mia Sara costars as Van >Damme's love interest and damsel in distress. And Ron Silver stars as a >U.S. Senator who is using time travel to steal money so he can be
    president. This is a very frustrating movie to watch. There is a good >movie buried deep, deep, inside of this one somewhere. I'm sure of it.
    But it's buried under so much stupid, that it never sees the light of
    day. There is zero logic to any of the time travel in this movie. They >don't even pretend to try to explain it! The way the law enforcement
    system works doesn't make any kind of sense. Not once do they ever take
    the slightest bit of interest in how exactly are the criminals time >traveling. Within the movie, reality is altered due to time travel
    multiple times, and no one at the time policing agency seems to care in
    the slightest. To the degree that Van Damme cares it's more or less an >afterthought due to how it interferes with his making an arrest. The
    only saving grace for this movie is Ron Silver's scene chewing. He
    seemed to be the only one in the movie who actually wanted to be in the >movie. Everyone else was phoning it in.

    Good review and I agree about Silver. I remember a reviewer making fun
    of launching the timesled toward the interior wall of the soundstage.

    Are you going to watch the tv series?

    RoboCop (4K disc) Paul Verhoeven's classic 1987 movie starring Peter
    Weller as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop. The movie holds up great. When I went to put the disc
    in, I noticed there was the director's cut and the theatrical cut both
    in 4K on separate discs. I got a good chuckle out of that. That
    theatrical cut will *never* be watched! At first, I was going to skip
    the commentary in favor of the Dolby Atmos track, but in the last moment
    I broke down and turned on the commentary track. It was an excellent >commentary that gave a deep dive into the making of the movie. I have
    to give much respect to the people who put the commentary together.
    During the scene when RoboCop takes down the drug warehouse, the guy
    stops talking, the audio turns up and you can hear that wonderful score
    and dialogue during the scene, then when the scene is over the
    commentary resumes. Now that's how you do a commentary track!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPy2NimLCAw

    I love this movie. It's a hero's epic journey from an era when the
    movies still remembered how to do that. The cast is terrific, especially
    Miguel Ferrer. You had a tv dad as a major villain who pulled off a
    convincing performance by acting, and another tv dad as a henchman. The cynicism about tv news was wonderful, especially in the Harvey Milk
    scene. Who would use that for farce today?

    Glorious score meant to sound like an epic '50s Western.

    I've written about the sad story of the costume disaster and what Peter
    Weller went through and production delays it caused.

    Somehow, Verhoeven didn't screw it up.

    The main difference is the slaughter of the executives. The studio cut
    makes the violence disturbing, not farcical. Somehow reviewers had seen
    the original cut and wrote about it.

    Are you going to watch the tv series?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jul 21 12:46:30 2026
    Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    RoboCop (4K disc) Paul Verhoeven's classic 1987 movie starring Peter >>Weller as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop. The movie holds up great. When I went to put the disc >>in, I noticed there was the director's cut and the theatrical cut both
    in 4K on separate discs. I got a good chuckle out of that. That >>theatrical cut will *never* be watched! At first, I was going to skip >>the commentary in favor of the Dolby Atmos track, but in the last moment
    I broke down and turned on the commentary track. It was an excellent >>commentary that gave a deep dive into the making of the movie. I have
    to give much respect to the people who put the commentary together.
    During the scene when RoboCop takes down the drug warehouse, the guy
    stops talking, the audio turns up and you can hear that wonderful score >>and dialogue during the scene, then when the scene is over the
    commentary resumes. Now that's how you do a commentary track!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPy2NimLCAw

    I love this movie. It's a hero's epic journey from an era when the
    movies still remembered how to do that. The cast is terrific, especially >Miguel Ferrer. You had a tv dad as a major villain who pulled off a >convincing performance by acting, and another tv dad as a henchman. The >cynicism about tv news was wonderful, especially in the Harvey Milk
    scene. Who would use that for farce today?

    Robo will be 40 next year.

    Glorious score meant to sound like an epic '50s Western.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRakT4lCwug

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Arthur Lipscomb@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jul 21 19:07:46 2026
    On 7/20/2026 11:12 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    This is a multiday catch up. I recently watched:

    Bloodsport (4K disc) 1988 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van
    Damme plays a kickboxer who enters a competition involving a bloodsport.
    When another competitor who Van Damme cares about is injured during a
    fight Van Damme goes all in to defeat the evil fighter and bring honor
    to the sport.

    His first movie!

    Timecop (4K disc) 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme
    plays a cop in the future year of 2004 who is part of a secret law
    enforcement agency that polices time travel. Mia Sara costars as Van
    Damme's love interest and damsel in distress. And Ron Silver stars as a
    U.S. Senator who is using time travel to steal money so he can be
    president. This is a very frustrating movie to watch. There is a good
    movie buried deep, deep, inside of this one somewhere. I'm sure of it.
    But it's buried under so much stupid, that it never sees the light of
    day. There is zero logic to any of the time travel in this movie. They
    don't even pretend to try to explain it! The way the law enforcement
    system works doesn't make any kind of sense. Not once do they ever take
    the slightest bit of interest in how exactly are the criminals time
    traveling. Within the movie, reality is altered due to time travel
    multiple times, and no one at the time policing agency seems to care in
    the slightest. To the degree that Van Damme cares it's more or less an
    afterthought due to how it interferes with his making an arrest. The
    only saving grace for this movie is Ron Silver's scene chewing. He
    seemed to be the only one in the movie who actually wanted to be in the
    movie. Everyone else was phoning it in.

    Good review and I agree about Silver. I remember a reviewer making fun
    of launching the timesled toward the interior wall of the soundstage.

    Are you going to watch the tv series?


    No! LOL. I saw it when it originally aired. That was more than
    enough. Although I'm half interested in watching the sequel. But it's
    not available to stream for free.

    RoboCop (4K disc) Paul Verhoeven's classic 1987 movie starring Peter
    Weller as a cop who is gunned down by a bunch of criminals then rebuilt
    as a cyborg cop. The movie holds up great. When I went to put the disc
    in, I noticed there was the director's cut and the theatrical cut both
    in 4K on separate discs. I got a good chuckle out of that. That
    theatrical cut will *never* be watched! At first, I was going to skip
    the commentary in favor of the Dolby Atmos track, but in the last moment
    I broke down and turned on the commentary track. It was an excellent
    commentary that gave a deep dive into the making of the movie. I have
    to give much respect to the people who put the commentary together.
    During the scene when RoboCop takes down the drug warehouse, the guy
    stops talking, the audio turns up and you can hear that wonderful score
    and dialogue during the scene, then when the scene is over the
    commentary resumes. Now that's how you do a commentary track!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPy2NimLCAw

    I love this movie. It's a hero's epic journey from an era when the
    movies still remembered how to do that. The cast is terrific, especially Miguel Ferrer. You had a tv dad as a major villain who pulled off a convincing performance by acting, and another tv dad as a henchman.

    The scene when Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) visits Dick Jones and
    has a few words with the secretary, the secretary was played by Smith's
    real life girlfriend, and later wife.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLKpn7-6XM


    The
    cynicism about tv news was wonderful, especially in the Harvey Milk
    scene. Who would use that for farce today?

    Glorious score meant to sound like an epic '50s Western.

    I've written about the sad story of the costume disaster and what Peter Weller went through and production delays it caused.

    Somehow, Verhoeven didn't screw it up.

    The main difference is the slaughter of the executives. The studio cut
    makes the violence disturbing, not farcical. Somehow reviewers had seen
    the original cut and wrote about it.


    I think the commentary said the test audiences preferred the original
    cut. The test audiences "got it" the suits didn't.

    Are you going to watch the tv series?


    That would be nice. I actually liked the TV series. I have the TV
    series on DVD. About 15 years ago I made it through the first disc in
    the set but never finished. I doubt I ever will, especially with the
    DVDs. If I ever get a blu-ray upgrade, I might give it a second thought.

    It's sort of the same boat as the Terminator TV series. I like it, but
    too much of a time investment. At least I have the Terminator series on blu-ray which increases the odds I will revisit that one day.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)