London Loop Section 15

Did this section on Saturday just gone - I would have done it this week, but train strikes meant I would have had problems getting back from Elstree.

Frequently I've had to brush mud off my walking boots when I get home from these things, but this was not the case this time - it was a pleasant and dry day, while not being too hot.

The first bit from Hatch End was one I had done before on the previous walk and was heavily overgrown in places, but once I got past the garden centre at Carpenders Park, things got a lot more pleasant, although I did end up going badly off path more than once. There's only so much Inner London Ramblers can do as they rely on cooperation with local landowners and the various councils.

I found out that the pub I'd hoped to have lunch was in fact permanently closed - and had been for a year. So, I had to go to another one nearby that was a pricey brasserie, but no eatery is really cheap at the moment in this country.

The route takes you across Stanmore Common, with views all the way to Central London on a good day.

I'm not a flower expert, but there was also a lovely field filled with what I think are buttercups, albeit near the M1.

All of this is accessible by Oyster card and contactless travel, too! Just make sure you have a printed map and some good boots. Don't wear shorts as some of the foliage is high now and occasionally prickly.

US Upfronts 2023

The writers' strike in the States has severely hampered the television scene there and a lot of series will not start their new runs until next year as a result. We are 27 days into this strike, the actors' union is balloting its members for industrial action and we could see a near complete shutdown of Hollywood as a result.

After the boom, this is very much the bust. The 'main' networks are commissioning a fraction of what they were doing even a few years ago.

Some series of note:

• NCIS: LA was cancelled after 14 seasons - I had lost interest in it a while back.
• CSI: Vegas has gotten a third season and will likely get a fourth. While still rather good, it isn't frankly up to the original series.
• The Arrowverse is dead as the CW refocuses its efforts on an older audience. This includes a spinoff for The Librarians, which was a TNT show and will likely be set in Europe, as North America isn't known for its castles.
• The Blacklist will wrap its final season in July; as I predicted some years back, the grand finale will be called "Raymond Reddington". I have still to watch all of Season 9 and there is no firm UK date for Season 10.
• Star Trek: Discovery will be cancelled after its fifth season. It's frankly run its course now but did the job of re-establishing TV Trek. The announced Academy series will likely act as something of a continuation, reusing its physical and digital assets.
• Star Trek: Picard finished its three-season run in fine form, providing an excellent concluding chapter for the TNG-era crew.
• CBS were boasting about having five 11-million viewer shows. I remember they used to get 20 million viewers for NCIS.
• The new series announced for the networks look uninteresting - do we really need a cop show spinoff from The Good Wife?

So, we've got these prop swords... (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.7, "Day of the Dove")

Not that long to Strange New Worlds returns - and it's got a crossover with Lower Decks that should be a lot of fun, but I'm trying to get a couple more of these in before those two shows start.

• We've not had the Klingons turn up for a while - this is one of the three appearances of the D7 battlecruiser in the original series as transmitted, with four more added in the remastered version.
• In this case, the Klingon makeup is really obvious. I am watching it on HD on a tablet, not on a 1960s analogue television.
• Again, nearly all taking place on the ship, apart from one planet scene.
• This is an interesting scenario; Star Trek often does these, but the execution is sometimes lacking.
• We still haven't got the "honourable" Klingons we come to know and love; these ones still retain the strong Imperial Japanese and Soviet Union influence they were originally written with.
• Warping out of the galaxy? Haven't we just had that?
• Pretty strong anti-war message in this one, I would say.
• I really did not like the scene where Chekov, even under the influence of an alien entity, attempts to rape the Klingon scene officer. I suspect that it would not be made in modern Trek.
• This is the only time a female Klingon seen in TOS.
• Lots of sword fighting in this one, including a couple of big fights in the corridor. The choreography must have been a challenge as even a blunt sword can hurt it if it hits you in the face.
• And of course, Scotty likes claymores.
• Shatner has some good stuff, but sometimes he's acting a bit too hard, and it shows.
• Everybody laughs at the end - but this time it serves a purpose.

Conclusion

Generally, a very good episode - a great concept and on the whole, well realised. Some bits haven't dated well, mind, but that's true of TOS in general.

8/10

Tina Turner 1939-2023

 We've lost another music icon, simply put. Tina Turner's career produced many an iconic banger, with "GoldenEye" in particular a contender for best Bond theme.

Few people get a musical about them while they're still alive - she was that much of a legend, overcoming a troubled childhood and abusive relationship to become one of the biggest female artists of all time.

Rest in Peace.

London Loop Section 14 + a walk to Watford

Section 14 of the London Loop is a pretty short one - at just shy of five miles from end to end, including the station links, I was able to do it in just over two hours.

As stages go, it was distinctly average. There was some bad mud in the opening sections, and I decided as a result to take the suggested diversion route on the latter stages to avoid what might be an even worse bit.

I was justified - the alternative diversion is nicer with wider paths and less mud, although you do have to go through a couple of golf courses.

I'd come prepared for rain, but it stayed dry for the whole day bar some light spots in the morning. In fact, I ended up with a decent sweat and quite a few dead bugs on my neck as the insect repellent only partly worked.

As a near two-hour public transport journey each way for a comparatively short walk wasn't justified, I'd decided ahead of time to do a bit more. The 9.3-mile section onto Elstree was too long to do in an afternoon even if the light is now favourable for that, especially as I'd done five miles already.

So after, doing a chunk of Section 15 to get me to a garden centre for lunch, I used the Go Jauntly app to navigate my way to Watford Junction station through some more of the woods east of the West Coast Main Line, around four miles. This involved some overgrown and unkempt paths through the woods along with a few wrong turnings as this wasn't a guided path, but also some nicer bits like below:

My right leg was starting to complain (a fairly heavy landing from a stile that was my fault not helping), especially once I got to a forty-minute walk through Bushey and Watford itself - I considered giving up and hoping on a bus. But I persevered and made it to Watford Junction, which isn't exactly the best-looking station on the planet, before getting the LNWR train back to Euston.

Curious Dog Count was five. I think. I encountered several in one go at one point.

Planning to do Section 15 at the beginning of next month; I've got seven bits left to do and as some are combinable, I will need five days to finish the loop off.

Why not give it a try yourself?

The Actually Pretty Good Corral (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.6, "Spectre of the Gun")

This is another Gene L. Coon episode, albeit written under a pseudonym and is so far frankly the best episode of Season 3 that I've seen so far.

So, my thoughts:

• When an alien telepath tells you to turn around, it's probably a good idea. Especially as you people have encountered plenty of such situations before.
• The half-built town, which is obviously something done for budgetary reasons (it's also all in studio), is cleverly explained.
• The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which didn't actually take place there, also formed the basis of an entire story of Doctor Who in the Hartnell era, "The Gunfighters". It would be one of the last 'pure historical' stories i.e. a story set in the past with no science fiction episodes and isn't considered a classic.
• Chekov really does not cover himself in glory during this - spending far too much time flirting with a vapid young woman who also does nothing for female writing in this tale.
• There's certainly a particularly good concept here and it's well handled, with a keen sense of inevitability as the characters try to avoid the gunfight. This would have made a good plot for Legends of Tomorrow, sadly cancelled on a cliffhanger.
• Spock is well done, proving his worth as the science officer and figuring out the situation in time to save everyone's lives. The others also do well, except for Chekov as mentioned above.
• Clearly the budget wasn't there for the Melkotians, of which we get one entirely static creature and a voiceover.
• Sadly, humans have not overcome their predilection for violence, as current events continue to demonstrate.

Conclusion

I don't think we get many great episodes in this run, but this is one of them, despite some flaws.

8/10

Well, I suppose a hexagonal box doesn't need lunch (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.5, "Is There In Truth No Beauty"?)

As I continue my way through Star Trek's third season, the budget cuts remain clearly obvious - this entire episode takes place on the ship bar model/CGI shots and it's clear that the set space available is now limited.

It's also clear that interesting concepts are not working in their execution. So, my thoughts:

• The music in this is a bit much - the dramatic stings should not be that noticeable in general.
• Everyone's behaviour towards Dr. Jones is frankly rather chauvinistic at best. Kirk confronting her in the med bay is just unpleasant to watch.
• Not sure how something being ugly can make someone homicidally mad. Especially as we never see the actual form of Ambassador Kollos.
• I see this is the original of the "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" mantra.
• The idea of a blind person having a sensor net is an interesting one, but you'd think the technology would be smaller than a cloak.
• Diana Muldaur, later twice nominated for an Emmy, makes her second TOS appearance here.
• The show was still working out its mechanics of how warp drives work.
• Nimoy gets to do something a bit different from his usual Spock acting, but then it all goes to pot when he goes crazy.
• Indeed, the other bit of going crazy acting isn't that good either.
• The fight scenes we get in this look particularly badly done, even for a show not known for its realistic hand-to-hand combat.
• Perhaps this was a lower-budget episode to save money for elsewhere?

Conclusion

Not a good episode, sadly, but it isn't awful. I hope something better comes along as we continue, but I'm not optimistic.

4/10

The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

I rang for this at my Church this morning and the delay in getting home meant that I missed the first fifteen minutes, but I saw the rest.

It was definitely one of those events that showcase Britain at its best - we do pageantry like no-one else - with plenty of symbolism and the right level of pomp. Charles will have a challenge adjusting the monarchy for a modern age with growing republican sentiment - and the Metropolitan Police look to have gone too heavy-handed on dealing with potential protests - but he seems to be trying. He has gotten more popular over time and it says something that the two least popular royals present made quick exits after the main event. 

There also seem to be some good memes coming out of this too - Penny Mordaunt has earned herself some kudos for holding those swords for so long.

Now to enjoy the rest of the second of three long weekends this month.

Never Work With Children or Animals (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.4, "And the Children Shall Lead")

With Picard having concluded in brilliant style, I am going back to the original series for a bit, at least until Strange New Worlds starts in June and Lower Decks follows soon after that.

This one is considered one of the worst episodes of Star Trek, full stop, as I found out after I watched it. It seems to be one of those episodes with an interesting concept that falls apart in the execution.

So, some thoughts on all of this:

• It's clear that the budget has been badly cut - we only get two sets beyond the existing Enterprise ones and they look they've used previous bits of scenery.
• Good child actors are hard to come by. You may get one in a production - sometimes, like in Stranger Things, you get an entire cast - but often they're clearly not experienced enough for the job. As in this case.
• When Gorgan turns up for the first time, my immediate thought was about Mystery Science Theater 3000. Hiring a high-profile attorney - Melvin Belli was the lawyer for Jack Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald and was known as the "King of Torts" before that - to play a villain was a publicity stunt that the production team realised was a mistake.
• Gorgan does have an interesting overall plot - kill the adults, then use the kids to get to more adults - but how has he given them the powers to mind control people?
• The mind control gesture is a bit silly looking.
• Uhura seeing herself have a long, slow death hits a bit harder in the light of Nichelle Nichols' later dementia.
• We get two redshirts killed in this - beamed out into space - and we don't even see their deaths in space. Again, clearly budget cuts.
• The costumes for the kids look a bit silly, quite frankly. Then again, in the 1960s, many things looked a bit silly.
• Everyone gets to ham it up under mind-control. Not necessarily very well.
• I am sure that in one of the fight scenes, the redshirt flips himself!
• We also get Chekov's gun! That is different from Chekhov's gun of course.
• The resolution is poorly done - badly acted and filmed as much as anything. At least we don't get a laughing ending, but those kids will be traumatised for years.

Conclusion

It's a pretty poor episode of Star Trek but I've seen a good deal worse in other media.

3/10

London Loop Sections 12 and 13

 

Sometimes, walking the London Loop can be a very pleasant experience. At other times, you're wondering if you're going to make it to the end without sustaining injury.

Thus was the case for this walk. It was a dry Wednesday in April, sure, but for large parts of Section 13, it might as well have been a wet day in November.

Section 12 mostly operates alongside the Grand Union Canal, and I was able to walk it faster than the man driving the red canal boat could get along it, even before he had to stop at the various locks. It's no wonder that the railways very much did for the commercial canal business in this country. Indeed, you can see the under construction HS2 as you go along this route, along with the Chiltern line.

After lunch at the Coy Carp pub in West Harefield, the only eatery open on that route, I continued onto Section 13 and once I got around halfway, reaching Bishop's Wood Country Park. things got bad. Very bad.

At several points, I nearly fell over, and the mud would have been on more than my trousers. I have flagged this with the Inner London Ramblers, who "run" the Loop as the word "hazardous" is valid at several points.

Anyway, I plan to do Section 14 at least next month. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as parts of Section 13.

Easter 2023

Easter has come round again, and I thought that this article was well worth sharing:

Jesus rose from the dead. Here are 3 reasons why we can be confident.

It contains some stuff that I'd not heard before - namely the other "messianic" movements that completely disappeared.

In any event, Jesus died to save sinners - and that's all of us. I know all too well that I sin at least once every single day and sometimes a good deal more. Without Jesus in my life, I'd probably be in a much worse place than I am now morally. He has been my rock and my guide since my childhood, and I wish to continue being a Christian until my dying day. 

That does not mean endorsing everything his followers do - far from it - but it does mean holding fast to the essential truth of his message, about loving one other as he has loved us.

Happy Easter!

April Fool's Day

I don't have an April Fool's joke for this year. For one thing, it snuck up on me, like in other years, before I could think of anything good.

I might do something next year. If I remember. But don't wait up.

Picard has been very good mind. That's not an April Fool's either.

Paul O'Grady 1955-2023

I only really knew Paul O'Grady as Lily Savage and later as a TV host; I didn't know until reading his obituary of all his activism for LGBT people in this country, at a time when homophobia was much worse than it is today.

The term "national treasure" definitely applies to him, and he will be deeply missed, having gone far too soon.

Rest in Peace.

Vladimir Putin wanted for war crimes

The ICC wants Putin to face charges of war crimes for the abduction of children

It's clear that there is an attempt to ethnically alter Ukraine, or at least the parts that Russia controls, to make it more Russian - and putting these children in Russian families is just a part of that. Putin has many crimes to answer for, although I am not sure whether he will answer for them in any earthly court. If he is overthrown, Russia handing him over will likely be a condition of normalising relations, but he may end up dying first - and facing a more perfect judge.

London Loop Sections 10 and 11

I got a new warmer walking coat lately, that makes walking practical in somewhat colder conditions than previously. After a five-miler around Becontree and Chadwell Heath to make sure I could do it, I engaged on Friday in the longest batch of walking in my life - 11 miles on this stretch, with a total of nearly 16 for the entire day.

That included the long Elizabeth Line-Tube interchange at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 & 3. Well, really 2 & 3 as Terminal 1 has closed. 

These two sections go from Hatton Cross via Hayes to Uxbridge, mostly along the River Colne and the Grand Union Canal. It doesn't start very nicely:

There wasn't that much actual activity along the canal - it was after all a fairly cold Friday in February.

There was a persistent drizzle until around 2pm and much of the route was slightly muddy, although I have seen a lot worse. It's also pretty flat for most of the two sections, which makes things easier. There's a bit where the canal goes over a river:

The final bit was rather nice, including a boat called Almost There, which seemed rather appropriate as I was getting a bit worn out!

It took me around six hours overall, including the lunch break.

I plan to do Sections 12 and 13 in the next couple of weeks before RL stops me for a while.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Saw this on Thursday evening after work - I like to go at times without noisy kids - and found it to be OK. It works best as a set-up for Phase 5 and not as a stand-alone story. There's certainly some entertaining moments, but it doesn't have enough to really fill the whole two hours and none of the guest characters are memorable.

The main thing is the huge number of effects, some of them a bit ropey, most notably MODOK, which looks like something from a 1990s comedy show. There have been reports of "crunch" caused by late reshoots and artists being pulled off to work on Black Panther - I wonder how bad it was before any "crunch".

In any case, while the MCU is still good, four films and four TV series a year is too much. Robert Iger's return as Disney CEO will hopefully lead to a focus on quality over quantity; The Marvels has been put back to November. Three and three is a decent amount - two and two might be even better.

6/10

Ukraine #4: One year on

It has been one year since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine began, forcing millions to flee for their lives and causing devastation for much of the east of the country. The damage will run into the hundreds of billions for Ukraine, a country that has fought far better than anyone thought in February last year.

This war could end tomorrow if Russia agreed to withdraw, but it sadly seems Putin is unwilling to back down despite his massive losses. The fighting - and the suffering - will continue for months yet.

Letters from Watson

Thought I'd plug the rather excellent Letters from Watson blog:

Letters from Watson link

With the 'canon' now completely public domain in the States, a British woman is doing a serialisation of the short stories in broadly chronological order, allowing for a bite-sized experience of arguably the greatest of fictional detectives. There's also a very friendly Discord that allows for critical analysis of the characters and the world they operated in.

I strongly recommend you check it out.

Racist, pure and simple (Review: Star Trek 3.3, "The Paradise Syndrome")

It's been nearly a year since the last post in this series. I've had more modern Trek to watch - and with Picard about to start, it might be a while before you get some more posts here. But I will try to get one more in at least.

I'm not going to outline the plot etc. like my previous posts, but will instead list some of my thoughts in no particular order:

• There is some very nice scenery in this episode, but I believe it's pretty much the only location shooting done for the third season, with its vastly reduced budget.
• How on Earth can Spock identify the different tribes from that distance?
• Uhura is entirely absent from this episode.
• The depiction of the Native American characters is bad - simple minded "noble savages" with limited language skills who must be saved by a white guy. Once people realised that this episode lost nearly all of its popularity - and it was considered one of the best of Season 3 to that point.
• Scotty, Spock and McCoy all have some good stuff while in the ship... but it stretches credulity somewhat.
• Also, they're all played by white actors in brownface. Sigh...
• If this is one of the better ones, how bad are the others?
• There's a very weird CPR scene involving moving a kid's legs back and forth. Apparently, this is something called the Silvester Method, which is no longer taught.
• There's a mind meld that allows Shatner to thoroughly chew the scenery.
• Kirk gets a woman pregnant. She and the baby die at the end of the episode in what is actually one of the sadder moments - or would be if I wasn't distracted by Sabina Scharf's chest. What kind of bras did these people have?

Conclusion

The on-ship stuff does not make up for the surface plot, which as dull as it is racist.

2/10

The F-22 gets its Morrisette Moment

The F-22 Raptor originated in the Advanced Tactical Fighter programme in the 1980s, intended to counter Soviet fighter jets like the MiG-29 and Su-27, along with posited future development. The Soviet Union collapsed before it entered service and Russia was not exactly a threat to the US after that in anything bar the nuclear department; still arguably isn't considering their problems in Ukraine.

I don't think the developers on that programme for one second imagined that the first time the F-22 would engage in air-to-air combat would be against... a balloon. However, it is likely the highest altitude air-to-air kill of all time, which is something.

The pilot of that F-22 is going to have an interesting remainder of his or her life, that's for sure.