Random Thoughts #47 - "2017... Need I Say More?"

Wow, it looks like both franchises have another thing in common: ticking off longtime fans.

Well, it's the last post of the year. I could say "good riddance" to 2017, but that would be a lie. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but there was good in this year. Right now, I'm on break from work. I've been catching on some things I haven't done yet, resting, contemplating life, and freezing. Yeah, the South is definitely getting hit with winter! So, join me in another edition of Random Thoughts.

Random Episode - Batman: The Animated Series - Christmas with the Joker"

Since it is Christmas and Santa hasn’t busted down the door yet, I thought I’d talk about an episode from Batman: The Animated Series. I didn’t watch too many episodes in my youth. Today’s episode, “Christmas with the Joker,” was one of the few I saw… sort of. The cassette skips to the end in the last act. All I knew for a while was that the day was saved. It’s the 38^th episode of an already long season and we got Mark Hamill back as the Joker. It’s a good thing he’s getting work these days with the Last Jedi out in theaters. So, sit back as I try to, once again, rhyme this sucka!

Bruce: What's with you, Dick? First, it was "Poison Ivy's Pillow Party" and now this! I'm restricting your Comcast purchases!

Favorites - Favorite Soundtracks from Video Games

You know, there is one thing I haven’t talked about here in a while: music. I guess it got lost in the shuffle of comics, books, movies, and TV. Heck, I’m still not letting go of a couple of those things in the next couple of posts. I started to wonder about my favorite movie scores and started to run into blanks. I got them, but I really couldn’t call up many except for a few. Then, a lot of the ones I could think of are from the same dudes.

Then, I began to wonder about my favorite musical scores from video games. I shockingly had more luck there. Music is one thing that helps enhance gameplaying. It can help you get hyped up at the big moments and it can make you pretty annoyed at the low moments. I can’t count how many times I heard Saren’s theme when I died in the first Mass Effect. So, here are my ten favorite musical scores from video games. It’s not completely in order, but I do have the best up front.

Weird Star Trek Episodes - Sub Rosa aka "The Ghost and Doctor Crusher"

Uh... I think we need an adult! Also, fetch Father McFluggal at the local shire!

Since another Star Wars movie is out this weekend, I thought it was time to go somewhere else. I barely talked about any Star Trek this year, so this seems like a nice time to do it. Unfortunately, it's this episode. This is from Season 7 of TNG, a nice but kind of mixed season. It's not bad but compared to the other previous seasons, it's a litle subpar. I've been listening to Mission Log, a Star Trek podcast, and they're currently going through it. They touched this episode recently, so I decided to do a rewatch of my own.

Trade Tales! - Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 1 - Broken

I didn’t realize that I haven’t talked about Star Wars in a while. Since I’ve touched on the movies and most of the TV shows, I haven’t felt the need to. So, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is coming out this week. I’m “whelmed” for the most part since I know it could be good. I may be overwhelmed with joy when I see it. I’m not talking about that today, though. Tonight, I thought it was finally time to talk about another continuation of the Star Wars saga: Star Wars – Legacy.

Star Wars: Legacy was a new series published by Dark Horse and it started in 2006. It was a part of the now-defunct Expanded Universe, aka “Legends.” The idea was to basically pull a Next Generation move on the universe. The series takes place over 120 years after the end of Return of the Jedi. It also included all of the stuff that happened with the New Jedi Order and the Yuzhon Vong… whoever those guys are. Yeah, I’m not a big expert on many things from the former Expanded Universe, so check out Wookiepedia for more info.

The first volume was Broken and it contained the first six issues of the series. I picked this up a few years ago and did consider talking about it here. The story was done by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema. Ostrander was the main reason I even checked this out since I really liked his run on Suicide Squad. Duursema also handled the pencils for the issue. Dan Parsons did the inks while Brad Anderson did the colors. So, how is the Star Wars universe 100 years after Galactic Empire fell? It’s the same stuff, yo!

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 1 – Legacy

Story: John Ostrander and Jan Duursema

Pencils: Jan Durrsema

Inks: Dan Parsons

Colors: Brad Anderson

Letters: David Michael Thomas