As I posted on Twitter last night, "With no new Supergirl to review for a while yet, @DavidPSchaub and I, with @apontious, have started a new SG-Fun podcast about a 20-year-old show. SG-1 is mostly optimistic, though with some problematic elements. Want some comfort-food critiques? Join us!"
As that post explains,
STARGATE SG-FUN PODCAST 1
"Thanks, Send More (SG-1 “Children of the Gods” Part 1 and 2)
Stargate SG-1
Unscheduled Off-World Activation Detected!
Welcome to the start of a new Stargate TeeVee podcast on The Incomparable.
We’ll only be covering Stargate SG-1 episodes we find most entertaining and important, in order.
We’re starting with the two part pilot “Children of the Gods” and we all watched different versions!"
I'm a member/subscriber of The Incomparable network of podcasts (and live YouTube RPGs). That's where the Supergirl podcast is hosted. Several weeks ago, people on The Incomparable Slack's TeeVee subchannel were discussing shows they missed, and the one they talked most about was Stargate SG-1. My most frequent Supergirl co-host, David Schaub, and Andrew Pontious, who was on The Incomparable's podcast about The Good Place, and I kicked the idea around for a while and came up with a format and a name. We're planning to record every two weeks. We are NOT doing a deathmarch slog of covering every episode for 10 years of this show, let alone the spinoffs. The goal is to have and share fun! Instead, we'll be choosing some episodes from each season, in order, and discussing them.
You may well ask why, with all the fantastic new books and media being offered these days, we want to spend time on a show that premiered 23 years ago. Well, it's a fun show, despite some dark moments and, as I tweeted, some problematic issues. There's action and adventure but also a lot of character-based humor, and some character development. Also, it's an ensemble show -- Jack O'Neill is definitely the leader, but Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter and Teal'c, along with General Hammond and a few other Stargate staff, all have their moments. Sometimes Jack is wrong and one of the others is right. And they are all likeable, although Jack can be gruff and dismissive of the science/linguistics/astrophysics stuff.
Also, Andrew and I saw the original, and David watched the spinoffs SG-Atlantis and SG-Universe, although he missed the original show. Addiitionally, SG-1 is easily accessible; right now it's available free to Amazon Prime and Hulu viewers.
Morever, the show is back in the news. Talks are progressing for a possible new Stargate series. That might or might not happen, of course. But right now, there's a new 5e RPG coming soon! It's already fully funded, although there it has a couple of days left on Kickstarter.
Finally, to be honest, although I've been diving into the new-to-me medium of Twitch, I have not had the mental energy to experience a lot of other new TV shows, or even new seasons of shows I've been following, or even new books. Besides my annual Hugo reading, and the short stories on podcasts I follow, and the "assigned" reading for podcasts I talk on, I've mostly been revisiting old favorites this year. (I did binge Watchmen in one weekend when HBO made it temporarily free to see, and it was AMAZING.) SG-1 is comfort viewing for me, even though some things are raising flags that I didn't notice so much 23 years ago when it premiered.
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Well now, it's been quite a while since I updated this blog, so here is what else I've been up to in SFF and RPG activities:
First, we did finish discussing Season 5 of Supergirl. But since that had only two more episodes, I added them as an update to my podcasts roundup post from April:
Next, I've been on several more SFFAudio podcasts after my debut discussing Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Efficiency Expert, which is included in the roundup above. Dates are when podcasts dropped; usually the discussions are about 6 months before. Note that just because I discuss something in a podcast doesn't mean I endorse it! These are critiques, sometimes highly critical.
May 18: The SFFaudio Podcast #578 – READALONG: She by H. Rider Haggard, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Maissa Bessada, Will Emmons
July 13: The SFFaudio Podcast #586 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Tree Of Life by C.L. Moore, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Will Emmons
Aug. 3: The SFFaudio Podcast #589 – TOPIC: WORLDCON 2020, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Scott Danielson, Trish E. Matson, Evan Lampe, and Alec Nevala-Lee
Aug. 24: SFFAudio posted my 5-part Librivox narration of H. Beam Piper's Omilingual as a single SFFAudio podcast for the convenience of listeners.
Aug. 31: The SFFaudio Podcast #593 – READALONG: Omnilingual by H. Beam Piper, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Will Emmons
Sept. 7: The SFFaudio Podcast #594 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Horror At Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Evan Lampe, Julie Hoverson
Oct. 12: The SFFaudio Podcast #599 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Hawks Of Outremer by Robert E. Howard, with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Evan Lampe, Trish E. Matson, Alex, and Connor Kaye
Third, I've been continuing to play Dungeons and Dragons on Arvan Eleron's Twitch channel. I've discussed previous games elsewhere, but these are new since then:
Arv streams Day 13 of Community D&D: Dragon of Icespire Peak--The Shrine of Savras! (focus on combat and suspense)
Arv streams Day 14 of Community D&D: Dragon of Icespire Peak--Along Paths Old and New! (focus on shopping and character development)
Arv streams Day 15 of Community D&D: Dragon of Icespire Peak--Untravelled Trails to Tread! (decisions, development and combat)
Also, a couple of Saturdays ago, I participated in Arv streams D&D with Viewers--The House of the Midnight Violet! There weren't any D&D newbies this time: Along with me, they were Brandon O'Brien (therisingtithes on Twitch), @lightandpassion, Shadowcrew companion @echoAlpha_x5, and @wenchkin, so once we got our tech issues worked out and our characters picked, we were able to jump right into play, and had quite a good time interacting with each other and the GM, Arvan. The show picks up there, with introductions. Sadly, we didn't finish the mystery, but we did get in some combat, and I was satisfied with how I was able to portray my character, Perdita, a half-orc paladin (with her dog, Jaws), in not a lot of time.
If you watch these games live on Twitch, you'll have the fun of commenting along with the community. Sometimes there are highly amusing strings of puns, sometimes there are serious side discussions.
I've been posting nearly all of these on Twitter as they happen, so if you want to keep caught up on my podcasts, follow me on Twitter.
UPDATE:
Another SFFAudio discussion that I'm in went live on Monday, Nov. 2:
We discuss a weird sort-of-science fiction and social commentary story from 1911, in https://www.sffaudio.com/the-sffaudio-podcast-602-readalong-an-exchange-of-souls-by-barry-pain/ with Jesse Willis, Paul Weimer, Maissa Bessada, Evan Lampe, and me.
UPDATE 12/1/20:
Two more SG-Fun podcasts have posted:
https://www.theincomparable.com/teevee/674/ i.e. Human Style People -- deep dives into "The Enemy Within" and "The Nox," with briefer mentions of the four episodes between those
https://www.theincomparable.com/teevee/678/ i.e. A Lot of Hugging -- brief mention of Brief Candle and deep dives into "Thor's Hammer" and "The Torment of Tantalus"
My Twitch gaming continues:
Arv streams Day 16 of Community D&D: Dragon of Icespire Peak--An Annoyance of Ankhegs!
Arv streams Day 17 of Community D&D: Dragon of Icespire Peak--The Depths of the Dead!
In Day 17 at 1:51:55, I sang a song of Inspiration for the party.
I've also come up with a couple of impromptu poems during people's streams:
a silly limerick for gcdarksiderob following chat comments by wookiecookie, and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_umtPyCOl0&list=PLTBKdAD6ibG8VAkkyjaq4Yk3ePnn5v9GA&index=10 starting about 3:00:40.
a ballad-style thing for Arvan following an anecdote he told during an Adventures in Middle Earth ttrpg session.
Here's the tale of nine-fingered Greg,
Lucky not to lose an arm or a leg.
The knife from his dad was a perilous gift,
Meant well but could have caused a great rift.
Few presents are more thrilling than a multitool
for a young lad, but he's little more than a fool.
In his greed and his awe, he opened them all,
and sliced open his hand. Did he, pray, start to bawl?
But it turned out okay; now he treats blades with care.
And another tie with Dragonspeare Arvan doth share.
I also wrote a poem in praise of moderators and posted it on Arvan Eleron's mod channel in Discord, just for the other moderators.
Oh yes, Arvan promoted me from a follower/subscriber to be a moderator for his Twitch channel in November! Basically that means I have the power to ban trolls and spambots, in order to help keep the chat community warm and welcoming and somewhat on topic.
