I, along with many others, have been watching the decline of modern entertainment for a long time now. Don't get me wrong, the new stuff has its fans and fair play to them for liking the movies/games/comics, or whatever else comes along. For those of us who grew up with some of the stuff I'm about to mention, there have been many a discussion on what to do about the forced and unwelcome changes.
YouTube folks will make their videos on it because that's what they do. Topics like this will always bring in the clicks. I admit to having watched many of them. I admire the passion and the raw honesty of the YouTube personalities, because they speak like most people I know, without a filter. Paul Simon once sang:
To me, I think of YouTubers when I hear that verse. It sounds stupid, sure, but they say what they think and with little care. Those of us with jobs we fear losing if we dare speak out, especially in this modern cancel culture, say our objections privately or in hushed tones.
But, what has brought me to writing this piece? A number of realisations, really. Seeing people from different backgrounds either make videos, write books, or speak publicly about this change in entertainment made me pay attention to it all. I chose to watch from a distance as opposed to getting involved in the whole "Culture War," as the constant fighting grew tiresome at times. But, one day, a friend of mine said something during a conversation that really got me thinking.
"This Culture War. I'm pretty sure it was lost a long time ago."
Was he right? Going through the examples I'm going to list, I became convinced that he was.
When it comes to movies and television, the choices are endless. I could write article after article on what I personally feel, but I'll narrow it down to these examples.
First off is one that is quite close to my heart, and that is Star Trek. I will forever curse Alex Kurtzman's name when someone mentions him. He is one of those hacks who cannot competently write his own material so he has to ruin other people's. I grew up watching The Next Generation and loved it with a passion. Some of the stories told were way ahead of their time, especially the episode called The Drum Head Trial. The Character of Picard was a man with such authority and respect, any man or woman would follow him into battle.
The Picard series turned this once fearless and strong captain into a bumbling old man who was bossed around by every person he came across. I'm told the stories were about "humbling him," but I got four episodes in and couldn't do anymore. This wasn't the Picard I remembered. The writing was piss pour, the acting cheesy, and the show clearly had too many cooks in the kitchen. The last time I checked, there were around eight executive producers on the show, including Stewart himself. If that isn't a massive red flag (or eight,) I don't know what is. I was later told of where the story went, but I didn't care at that point.
If anyone thinks I'm going to give Discovery or Lower Decks any serious attention, don't waste your time. The only thing that makes me laugh with regards to this was when the Lower Decks trailer got bombarded with comments, informing Paramount of the continuity errors and dishing out criticism, they turned the comments off.
But, I suspect people may be waking up to the wolf in sheep's clothing that is Alex Kurtzman. A review was published on the series he was working on, Clarice, based on characters created by the great Thomas Harris. I invite you to read it because it really did put the boot in. Again, he was working with someone else's characters.
Yeah, you knew I was going to go there.
The Disney trilogy will forever be known as reboots of the original trilogy. The worst offender, Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, pissed off a lot of people, including myself, to the point we swore off anymore Star Wars movies. For those who doubt me, take a look at the box office takings for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker. Each one took less than the one before it, especially The Last Jedi. The characters were largely forgettable, the stories were poorly written, and they had to rely on the legacy characters to help the trilogy muddle to its eventual, and forgettable, conclusion.
Rogue One, while a pretty good movie, is hardly spoken about anymore, and Solo was a flop. Disney turned the franchise into the cinematic equivalent of Call of Duty, and people got tired of it.
Note that I'm not including The Mandalorian in all this.
The two series released (at the time of writing this) were really good and had some great moments in it, especially at the end of season two. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but even though I knew what was going to happen, I still felt the touch of happiness watching it unfold. Nostalgia, too, granted, but happiness nonetheless. It was a shame Disney chose to piss away that goodwill with the fans with the firing of Gina Carano over tweets they deemed offensive. Something other cast and Disney staff have done without a similar fate. This led many people to cancel their Disney Plus subscriptions to protest what the company had done. I had already canceled mine a month prior because it wasn't worth keeping, but I was there in spirit.
The Transformers movies have also annoyed the living shit out of me.
The first was a lovely trip down memory lane and was full of some great moments, and some shite dialogue. Co-written, by the way, by Alex Kurtzman.
I can't seem to get away from that asshole.
I watched the second one and hated it with a passion, especially with what they did to Devastator, Jetfire, and how much of a whiney shit Sam had become. Not to mention, the arguably racist treatment towards Leo and portrayals of Skids and Mudflap. Dark of the Moon redeemed itself a little with the inclusion of Leonard Nimoy, but Age of Extinction shit the bed royally, and The Last Knight shit all over the floor on the way to the toilet. Bumblebee was a good prequel, by all accounts, but the damage was done by then and there hasn't been another movie since.
But, they make money. Lots of money, so I'm sure there'll be another somewhere along the line. I'll stick with my blu-ray of the animated movie, thanks all the same.
Next: Comics and video games.
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