Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Episode 2: Future Echoes

[10:41] tclintoncunningham
Season 1, Episode 2. I dont remember the title

[10:45] xtrebe
hello buddy

[10:45] xtrebe
Future Echoes

[10:46] tclintoncunningham
That is right. It is also the introduction to one of characters that I completely forgot about: The Toaster

[10:46] xtrebe
Ah, good ol' Toasty the Toaster.

[10:47] tclintoncunningham
It was like they wanted to make sure to have some secondary characters but realized killing all the humans limited their options

[10:47] xtrebe
Yeah

[10:47] xtrebe
I remember hearing in an interview that the writers were determined to not have one of the character be a robot

[10:47] xtrebe
because it was so cliche

[10:48] xtrebe
which is a goal they gave up on after 2 seasons.

[10:48] tclintoncunningham
Yeah, you would hate for a show that was so amazingly high budgeted to fall into the traps of cliches

[10:49] tclintoncunningham
Were both his fish robots then? or just 1?

[10:49] tclintoncunningham
or is it just 1 and a mirror or something

[10:49] xtrebe
I think it was a reflection

[10:49] xtrebe
I could be wrong though

[10:49] xtrebe
Maybe the number of fish changed from scene to scene

[10:49] xtrebe
because when he grabs the fish it looks like two

[10:49] tclintoncunningham
It would make sense if it was a reflection for many reasons

[10:49] xtrebe
but when he puts it back it was the only one

[10:50] tclintoncunningham
This analysis has taken an odd turn

[10:50] tclintoncunningham
Changing direction - humor is improving. Rimmer's little dance when he talks about Channel 27 made me laugh

[10:50] xtrebe
Well, the robot fish is memorable, what cna I say.

[10:50] xtrebe
ha ha, yeah

[10:51] xtrebe
Yeah, this is definitely one of the best episodes of season 2.

[10:51] xtrebe
One of my all-time favorite scenes of the whole show is when Lister and Rimmer have the double conversation in the drive room.

[10:51] xtrebe
That was so brilliantly done.

[10:52] tclintoncunningham
It was a good one. Like we talked about last time, it showcased their dynamic well

[10:53] tclintoncunningham
Even though there was a marked improvement in the humor, it also was worth noticing that they were committed to jokes good or bad. There were a few that were not funny but they kept at them

[10:53] tclintoncunningham
Rimmer exploring them curing death was a trainwreck but it just kept going

[10:53] xtrebe
Yeah

[10:54] xtrebe
The other thing I noticed was the weird little grimmace Rimmer does a couple of times.

[10:54] tclintoncunningham
I hadnt noticed, I will look for that

[10:54] xtrebe
It seems like they thought that might be some signature thing Rimmer does

[10:54] xtrebe
But they backed off.

[10:54] xtrebe
He never does that again, if I recall.

[10:54] tclintoncunningham
quick in season adjustments

[10:55] tclintoncunningham
I love how some stuff is meant to be futuristic while other stuff is complete garbage. Like Lister's camera

[10:55] tclintoncunningham
even then, they couldnt imagine a camera that wasnt the size of a shoe

[10:56] xtrebe
Ha, I hadn't noticed that.

[10:56] xtrebe
I did notice how Holly is all pixelated in season 1.

[10:56] xtrebe
A mile-long spaceship is easy, but high resolution screens? No way

[10:57] tclintoncunningham
haha, I had noticed that too. They have nailed making a hologram of a person but not a 2D image

[10:57] xtrebe
Ha ha, yeah

[10:57] xtrebe
Yeah, the hologram comparison is more apt

[10:58] tclintoncunningham
Now as I watch the show as an older person, I appreciate that Lister really is disgusting

[10:58] tclintoncunningham
Very few redeeming qualities

[10:58] tclintoncunningham
Neither him nor Rimmer are people I want to root for

[10:59] xtrebe
Man, neither Rimmer nor Lister are particularly great people.

[10:59] xtrebe
yeah

[10:59] xtrebe
Lister is basically a homeless person living on a spaceship.

[11:01] tclintoncunningham
Somehow that makes him an "everyman"

[11:02] tclintoncunningham
filth, excuses and zero ambition make him relatable to early 1990's Englanders I guess

[11:02] xtrebe
Kind of a depressing message when you think about it

[11:02] xtrebe
The "hero" is a disgusting bum with no aspirations

[11:03] xtrebe
And his frenemy is a talentless hack who has ambition but not the wherewithal to achieve anything.

[11:03] xtrebe
The message is that you can either not try and fail, or try and still fail.

[11:03] xtrebe
There is no example of success anywhere to be rind.

[11:03] xtrebe
found

[11:03] xtrebe
Except on the Holoship in season 5

[11:03] xtrebe
where everyone is an a-hole

[11:03] tclintoncunningham
Even Cat is a blundering idiot

[11:04] xtrebe
Yeah, and Kryten, who is the only competent one, is virtually a slave to the incompetents.

[11:04] tclintoncunningham
I wonder if they planned it that way. Like did they think Lister truly was relatable?

[11:04] tclintoncunningham
or were they trying to make it extremes?

[11:04] tclintoncunningham
or was it just an accident

[11:05] xtrebe
Man, I don't know.

[11:05] xtrebe
I guess that's one of the big ironies of the show:

[11:05] xtrebe
In a universe governed by the principal of survival of the fittest, at the end of time, the only survivors are the least fit of the species.

[11:06] xtrebe
It gives us hope :)

[11:07] tclintoncunningham
The cockroach theory

[11:07] tclintoncunningham
or that one movie where the idiots keep breeding and rule the world. Idiocracy or whatever it is called

[11:07] tclintoncunningham
Really depressing underlining messages

[11:07] xtrebe
:)

[11:08] xtrebe
Wow, we even managed to take a review of a sitcom and turn it into a depressing conversation.

[11:08] xtrebe
Go us!

[11:14] tclintoncunningham
Well we did experience a good portion of it while in junior high and high school. Isnt that the definition of depressing?

[11:18] xtrebe
I suppose so.

[11:21] tclintoncunningham
Yes! 2 conversations in and I want to jump off a building.

[11:22] xtrebe
Well, just wait until the Better Than Life episode

[11:22] tclintoncunningham
Haha

[11:22] tclintoncunningham
yeah

[11:22] xtrebe
Ha ha, in conclusion, Future Echoes was a good episode.

[11:22] xtrebe
:)

[11:23] tclintoncunningham
Yes, and we should stop looking too deeply into these at the risk of reverting back to our high school/stay up all night/listening to Korn/Hating everyone selves

[11:24] xtrebe
Hey, at least we were never cutters.

[11:25] tclintoncunningham
True, I found other ways of expressing it, never went down that path

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