One year later, we’ve got people in the arena again.
I don’t want to do a deep dive on the AEW/TNA “collaboration” because that’s a can of worms too big for a mere PPV musings – besides, you can probably look at that here – but what it boils down to is TNA losing a bunch of people to AEW while only getting a couple nibbles of AEW talent in return.
In 2016, actor Anton Yelchin – perhaps better known round these parts as the young actor who had portrayed Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot movies (a.k.a. the Kelvin Timeline movies) lost his life in a freak car accident at the tender age of 27. It was a senseless end to what could have been a promising career for the young man.
Ten years later, Walter Koenig – best known for playing Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series and movies as well as Bester in Babylon 5 – would pass away a couple days ago at the ripe age of 90, thankfully to natural causes and nothing malicious. It marks the end of a long life of a man who played a bit role, but made the most of what he was given and parlayed that into a career of acting, writing, and all-around fan interacting that made him such a beloved individual. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
This is not to make light of anything, but I just find the timing to be eerily coincidental that we would lose one Chekov in 2016 and another in 2026. It’s one of those passive observations that just dawns on you when you’re reading the news of Walter’s passing and you go “Oh, wait. Anton died ten years ago.”
That’s a scary thought.
From what I recall, Anton’s parents sued the car manufacturers and eventually settled out of court, so they presumably got something out of it… but it didn’t get back their boy. And so you have this weird thing where the original Chekov would outlive his successor to the role, only to pass away (naturally) ten years later. I’m not sure whether I should call this a coincidence or some sick cosmic joke at play.
I may watch some vintage Trek later tonight. I’ll pull the DVDs out later.
We celebrate the end of Spooky Season with a week-long trip to Murderworld.
What mystery thing lies in the bag? (Hint: It’s nothing special.)
Also, dog not included.
And also a dog…
This is not THAT video… but instead, we talk about the impending end of Ataribox’s support cycle… because that’s a lightweight topic of discussion that doesn’t make me sick.
New review has been pushed to Monday for a rare three-part deal.
Source: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/10/ea-shuts-down-legendary-rpg-developer-bioware
To be completely honest, I barely remember BioWare still being a thing because I’ve only played one of their games and that was the original Knights Of The Old Republic, which was great. And then LucasArts got someone else to do the sequel, which left me wondering what happened to BioWare. Turns out they made a bunch of Mass Effect games… and other stuff, I guess?
Still, a sad day when another EA-acquired entity gets shuttered and a bunch of people lose their jobs. Wish all those folks the best in whatever they end up doing and hopefully, they land on their feet sooner than later. But hey, we’ll still get those repackaged sports games, won’t we?
We revisit Sony’s take on Coppola’s take on Dracula by reviewing the lesser SNES version of the same game we played on Sega Genesis… which turned out not quite as dire as I was lead to believing. Still, why play this when Super Castlevania IV exists on the same platform?
Ah, yes. The Bound For Glory show with zero fans in attendance due to prevailing circumstances… although one could make the mistaken assumption that people just gave up on TNA and Anthem decided, “Fuck it. We’ll run the show even if no one wants to watch it.” In some strange, perverse fashion, if one were to watch this show under that specific mindset, it gets to be slightly more palatable.
If only that were truly the case and not just for the humorous memes…
So WWE had their 2-night Wrestlemania in April, I believe. AEW did their Double Or Nothing show in May. Both had generally good cards with some fun stuff – Mania’s Boneyard match and DoN’s Stadium Stampede were highlights. Can Impact achieve that leave of splendor with Bound For Glory?
The short answer is not really. The long answer is after the break.
I recently read an interview with Bob Picardo (he played Voyager’s Doctor in Star Trek Voyager and came back for the recent Starfleet Academy) who lamented the cancellation of Starfleet Academy, saying that it’s akin to tossing the baby with the bathwater. He brings up a very valid point that most people tend to overlook; that the first season is usually rough around the edges and it takes a show a good year or two before it eventually hits its stride.
There’s truth in that statement. People who watched TNG may recall that the show didn’t get good until the third season when they upgraded the uniforms and got a firm grip on who everyone was and what everyone was all about. TOS was all over the place in its first season, undecided on what to call their space patrol agency or how far into the future it took place in. Going beyond Trek, I can recall Home Improvement’s first season being something of a work in progress before the show got good.
Here’s the thing, though; not every show survives beyond its first season. People may recall that Firefly show that got a bit of fans, but was cancelled due to low viewership. And that was a good show from the getgo. And while it’s true that the first season is often the “rough draft” of a show, it still has to attract an audience. And if that audience isn’t buying into what you’re selling, no guarantee it moves beyond season 1. Now I cannot speak to the overall quality of Starfleet Academy because I haven’t seen it and honestly, don’t care to because it’s a teen drama thing that I wasn’t a fan of when I was the target audience for that kind of show and even less so nowadays. So I’m not in a position to tell you whether that show is good or not, nor can I tell whether it would eventually get better after a season or two. But if that show didn’t attract the numbers that would make it feasible to continue, then it wouldn’t surprise me that it’s getting axed. A show like that is expensive to make. It needs to make money.
Besides, the thing about the show getting better over time doesn’t exactly ring true all of the time. Strange New Worlds started off with a solid first season and subsequently got worse over time. The fact that it gets to finish its story next year is a blessing. Starfleet Academy doesn’t even get that much and that’s a unfortunate situation, regardless of how you feel about the show… unless you’re one of those people dancing over its open grave, then you’re having a luau.
Oh well… that was my random morning brain fart.
New review tomorrow. Feeling shit.
