Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

Fifty Years Of The Infamous Spock Beer Ad

In 1976, Heineken commissioned a new print advertisement that depicted the character of Spock (a.k.a. Mr. Spock from Star Trek) with droopy ears that become erect after taking a sip of Heineken beer. You look at that for what it is and you figure “Hey, hey. Funny!”

Leonard Nimoy would sue the company for unauthorized use of his likeness. It was one of a number of sticking points that almost kept him from wanting to reprise the role in later Star Trek productions… well, aside from the whole typecasting thing that also proved to be a bit of a detriment for the career.

I don’t know when this advert first hit the scene, but this year marks its 50th anniversary. Whether that’s a cause for celebration or just some random piece of business.

I bring this up because Strange New Worlds is closing up shop; we’re due for a fourth season and eventually a fifth and final season – cut down to six episodes – will follow. Given that every year features some sort of “comedy” episode at the expense of Spock, I’m surprised that we’ve not reached a point where Spock is inflicted with some condition that causes his ears to go all droopy and the only way to cure the condition is by – you guessed it – drinking a Heineken.

Where Were You When RAW IS JERICHO(r not, I really don’t care)

Ooh! Ooh! I can answer that!

I was in the can… having a movement… yeah, that about covers it.

Yeah, so… really, am I supposed to be surprised?

The worst kept secret in the business since the last worst kept secret in the business (seriously, guys, take your pick – you’re ripe with options) took place last night on RAW and I didn’t watch… because the potential return of Chris Jericho wasn’t enough to entice me to subscribe to Netflix and watch this monumental moment, which, in turn, did not spur me to look forward to the upcoming Royal Rumble event from the benevolent and progressive kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

It’s worth noting that I’m writing this weeks before the episode airs and thus if no Jericho showed up on (from your perspective) last night’s RAW, disregard everything I’ve just said, but if he did show up… then I’ll probably watch the clip on Youtube, shrug, and move on with my life. At this point, what does it matter? It’s another WWE alumni returning “home” or whatever the vernacular happens to be and everyone will start cheering for the guy after years of calling for him to retire or whatever the case may be. Wish him all the best whenever he shows up, but I really don’t care at this point.

P.S. Well, much to the chagrin of the universe who actually gave a shit – and this is the part that’s been written after the post has been published on scheduled – Learning Tree Ocho Chris didn’t appear… however, Becky got her title back and Bron Breakker didn’t get the title he probably should have gotten. In other words, I didn’t miss much.

Yeah… About that…

I guess if you’ve been following the news, you know about a certain campaign that took place in South America this weekend. I don’t need to tell you what; you either know it or you can easily look it up because that’s been the biggest news story this past weekend.

I make it a point not to touch on worldwide international affairs on this blog because the whole point of this thing is to be a fun little place where we occasionally celebrate things of interest and crap on terrible things in the name of good fun. I steer away from points of controversy because that’s not my wheelhouse and that anything I say would get mixed up with the white noise that usually passes as “discourse” on the various online circles that these things are usually discussed.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of not knowing what to say. Other times, it’s a matter of not wanting to stir a pot that’s been stirred way too much and has gotten too volatile as a result. But most of the time, it’s simple a matter of my feelings on these matters being none of your business.

I discuss serious issues with people during face to face conversations. I’m not wasting my time discussing these issues on a platform where any moron can come aboard, take your words, and warp them to mean something different than what you meant to say. I have no problem wasting words on silly things like bashing on bad showrunners of popular franchises or talking about trivial things because that’s the whole point of this whole deal in the first place; it’s to get away from that noise in the real world.

Yes, I’ve touched on real world stuff before, but those have been rare occasions where I felt I had some proper thoughts and fears to convey. Do I have feelings on this matter? Sure. Am I conflicted? Kinda. Are my feelings on the matter any of your business?  Absolutely not. There are some things that I am willing to share with the limited audience reading this blog or watching these videos, but when it comes to other things, those I keep close to my sleeve or I discuss with other people that I know and in person. This online white noise regarding any political affair is not something that I feel comfortable or even fully equipped to contribute to without any of it being lost in the shuffle or worse, construed to fit someone else’s false narrative.

If you want someone to use their platform to discuss real world issues or promote causes that are meaningful to them, you’ve got your pick of the litter elsewhere. But for me, personally, I’d rather use this space to discuss the trivial things that interest me and bring some levity to a place that desperately needs it. And if this whole affair does indeed escalate, chances are we won’t be around to discuss things online or sharing stupid memes to discuss our frustrations.

This will be my only word on the matter.

I Asked ChatGPT To Craft An Amazing Video Game Idea

George Wood of Gaming In The Clinton Years fame had a challenge for Eidos. In Tomb Raider III, create a storyline in which Lara gets breast cancer. Imagine the drama of a vulnerable Lara Croft still persisting on her worldly adventures despite her illness. It needs fleshing out, no pun intended, but we guarantee the gaming world would be shocked, stunned, and moved by the effort to make Lara’s character more meaningful. We love Lara, but it’s about time the industry had a big shock for a change.

ChatGPT – ever the creative genius – had the following to say on this amazing video game idea.

Continue reading “I Asked ChatGPT To Craft An Amazing Video Game Idea”

BleedingCool’s Assessment Of RTD (also fish sex)

Source: https://bleedingcool.com/tv/doctor-who-russell-t-davies-is-now-the-best-the-worst-showrunner/

An interesting perspective on the second run of Russell T Davies, with comparisons to John Nathan-Turner, the last Doctor Who showrunner of the classic era before the show was put on ice for good. To be quite frank, I’m not sure if that’s a fair comparison. Sure, Nathan-Turner might not have been the most popular producer, but there’s stuff from his era that I thought was pretty good and at the very least, his solution to getting away from the sonic screwdriver (i.e. just get rid of the bloody thing) was a way to make the Doctor more clever and resort to other means to solve problems.

Far be it for me to use this as another excuse to rag on ol’ RTD for his recent shit run, but I made a banner called Doctor Boo and so I might as well make the most of it.

For what it’s worth, though, I got around to seeing some of that War Between Land And Sea before I decided that I got bored and just read the synopsis for the rest of the series. Of course, the whole thing degrades into a love story between a man and a fish girl. That’s all this whole thing was about anyway, wasn’t it? Anything that supposedly touches on an interesting premise eventually devolves into bestiality… er, sorry, I mean interspecies erotica, fucko!

Man, remember when this guy was a genius responsible for reviving Doctor Who and turning it into a sci-fi juggernaut? Those were the days… can we build a TARDIS and bring THAT guy over so he can fix up the mess his future self mucked up? Would be nice.

Belated Good News: The Nuking Of Fake Trailer Culture

Source: https://filmstories.co.uk/news/youtube-has-deleted-two-major-channels-which-specialised-in-fake-film-trailers/

I hadn’t had the chance to comment on this piece of business, but I wanted to get it out there. I am pleased to hear that Screen Culture – the Youtube channel that often houses fake movie trailers with its fake thumbnails and other bullshit fakery – has been nuked by Youtube, along with a couple others that have specialized in fake trailers and trying to pass that shit off as real.

Very rarely will you have me championing the nuking of a Youtube channel for content that I disagree with, but there’s a HUGE difference between making your own fan trailers and making your own fan trailers while trying to pass them off as legitimate. And for years, I’ve had to put up with search results that constantly brought up these con artists and their obviously doctored thumbnails when trying to look for recent movie trailers. All I can say is thank fuck this is being remedied.

I’d imagine the ongoing trend of using AI tools to create fake trailers is what spurred this action on Youtube’s part and, yes, there’s going to be the other side of the coin where channels producing genuine, worthwhile content might be false shitcanned… because that sure as shit hasn’t happened in the past. But hey, at the very least, the system did what it was intended to do and that was clean up a mess that needed to be cleaned ages ago. And for this one, brief moment, I will applaud their efforts.

Now if only someone can nuke Screen Rant while we’re at it… or replace all the opinion writers on that site with actual journalists who will post actual news and not fluff pieces that don’t matter. That’d be a real step up, thanks.

Some “Homework” For Starfleet Academy

So TrekMovie has been putting up some material to hype up the upcoming Starfleet Academy series that’s due to premiere in a couple weeks. This includes an article bringing people up to speed on the background of the new reality that the series is set in, as well as one of the actors giving a tour of the sets on his Instagram.

None of this is really hyping me up for the show, but for those who are keen to learn more, you can follow the links here.

‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Orientation: The State Of The Galaxy And The Rebuilding Of The Federation – Link

Watch: ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Campus Set Tour + Clip Of Captain Ake’s Welcome To The USS Athena – Link

State Of The Blog – January 2026

Happy New Year… I heard it sucks… oh wait, I hear that every year.

For those who are TLDR people, reviews resume on Monday, January 19th with Review #1271 (game unknown) and Nitro musings will continue their Thursday run. And other minor fixes as well.

For those wanting more detailed bits, the break is right there. Continue reading “State Of The Blog – January 2026”