Category: Musings

Five Years To Learn

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-ceo-michael-rousseau-retires-9.7146886

On a more serious note, Air Canada CEO Michael Rosseau has announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

I’m assuming you’ve heard about the tragedy in LaGardia Airport with the Air Canada plane that crashed into a fire truck and cost the lives to its two pilots. Air Canada is a Canadian company based out of Montreal, which is in the province of Quebec. Canada has two official languages; English and French. When the CEO came out to express his condolences, he did so in English only. One of the pilots was Quebecois. The French speaking community, naturally, threw a fit and asked for his head. He delivered a written apology. Not good enough. Off with his head… and so he plans to step down later this year.

Naturally, prayers and wishes to the families of Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther in this trying time.

I honestly wish that more effort was made in celebrating the lives of two pilots who went above and beyond the call of duty to keep their passengers safe… only to be overshadowed by what I feel are somewhat petty language issues. Every time I hear OLEF giving a notice to someone’s Instagram or a bad with Irish decorations, I roll my eyes and grimace. The morons running this government have no time to fix their potholes or fund their medical sectors to procure more top of the line equipment to deal with their sick, but they’ve no problems spending money on spies to see who’s speaking acceptable levels of French at their places of work.

With that said, Michael Rosseau had a previous language-related controversy back in 2021 that also involved him speaking no lick of French in his statement and people cried foul. He said he’d do better and stuck around, but now five years later and despite taking French immersion classes, he still couldn’t muster a few quick words in French… and he runs a major airline based out of a province whose only official language is French and anyone who doesn’t speak French deserves to die or something. Someone in that position, who’s getting paid loads of money to run that expansive business in Canada and can’t speak a lick of French… I’m sorry, but why is this guy allowed to be CEO?

It’s one thing if you’re a lowly worker down the food chain and you only speak a little of one or the other. It’s another thing when you’re the head of a national corporation and fluency in both official languages of Canada is not only required, but should be expected, especially if you have to issue a statement regarding prevailing circumstances. I’ve got nothing against the man personally; I’m sure he’s a swell guy, but him being piefaced over not speaking French five years ago and then doing so again despite claims to have taken courses… yeah, I can say that I’m more francophone that this guy is, and my French is just good enough to get by, but not enough for me to run Air Canada.

Moral of the story; if you’re gonna apply for a job and it requires fluency in both English and French, you’d better be fluent in both English and French.

I’ll post something happier later.

Whatever Happened To “The Secret Spider-Man Movie?”

This is a deep cut from way back when… but a long, long time ago, a bunch of comic book geeks who were disenchanted with the Spider-Man movies at the time, were seeking funding to create their own version of Spider-Man 3, which was upcoming. They had a trailer that featured comments from Richard Donner (he of Superman: The Movie and Lethal Weapon fame) as well as other comic book geeks talking about how Hollywood is a soulless machine that mines intellectual properties for the sake of money.

Riveting stuff. Meanwhile, the sky is blue and water is wet. Grr…

So this was a thing that existed for a few years and there was an active forum and all that. I’ve wrote about this thing on the old DTM Blog (of which you can read here and here if you want more timely comments on the matter) and even left a couple comments on the message board. After a few years, the website shut its doors; citing a need to keep the production and website off limits for the foreseeable future. A year or so later, the website would disappear and replaced with a generic service page. I mentioned that much on the old blog fifteen years ago.

Whatever happened to the folks behind the project? Did they drop everything and move on with their lives? Did they end up making their secret Spidey movie that’s so secret nobody knows of its existence? Who can say for sure? I do know one thing; Spider-Man 3 came and went without a hitch, the Studi-HOS (their words, not mine) made their money, and we got more Spider-Man movies of different types. Maybe these guys made one of those… who knows? But really, who cares? You probably didn’t even know this was a thing until I mentioned it just now.

However, I can tell you this much. At some point, a Japanese car service website assumed control of the domain name and used it to provide some information on car servicing. That site would cease updates in 2014, but would stay active until at most 2019, which is the last update that Wayback Machine has in archive. And if you try to access the site today… you get nothing… because the site is long dead.

Oh well… so much for that. I’m glad that I resolved that mystery that I clearly didn’t think about until fifteen minutes ago when I had a brain fart of a realization that I need to post something today since there are no videos this week save for the one on Wednesday. What fun.

Later.

Class Dismissed – Starfleet Academy Cancelled

Source: https://trekmovie.com/2026/03/23/breaking-starfleet-academy-to-end-with-season-2-but-paramount-confirms-commitment-to-star-trek/

Starfleet Academy – featuring WWE Superstar Becky Lynch – has been cancelled. People will blame various things; I blame Becky. She’s the Baby Flair of Star Trek – everything that goes wrong is her fault.

Back in my day, you cancelled a series after its first season failed and it didn’t get a second. Nowadays, you cancel a series after its first season failed, but still air the second season because it’s already in the can and you need to recoup some of those funds… cue the snide grin of Kevin Nash on WCW Thunder commentary duties clearly not giving a fuck, which is what I’d imagine Paramount management must feel like at the moment, for better or worse.

Look, I haven’t seen the show, so I’m largely ambivalent in regards to its cancellation. I do know that it hasn’t garnered the viewership numbers and sometimes, yeah, it takes a while for a series to find its footing with an audience. More often than not, a series gets a season at most before higher ups decide to close up shop. It’s the sad reality of things. And I know that fans will see this as a victory for the grifters who were ragging on this thing for a lot of what I perceive to be “bad faith” reasons and wanted this off the air. Well, yeah, that could be the case… but those folks are never going to get what they want, which is a show that appeals to them because whatever they think Star Trek actually is, it is certainly not what they want, which is… I don’t know what they want.

As for me… like I said, haven’t seen the show. Had no real interest in the show due to its YA setting. Clips certainly didn’t inspire much confidence and was not enough of a push to say “Yes, I will subscribe to Paramount Plus and watch this series that doesn’t interest me despite the Star Trek brand.” Because I am one of those folks who does not slavishly consume all Star Trek. You’ll have those folks around who will watch everything and like everything because of their blind devotion to a brand and will support whatever hapless endeavor no matter what, which is every bit as toxic as raging hate boners of sitting through something you clearly do not like and feel the need to let the world know you hate this thing on a regular basis.

Really, you should be more like me; in that on the 31st day of every month, you let the world know that you haven’t watch the hit Section 31 streaming movie starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh because it amuses you, puts a smile on your face, and lets the world know that you HAVEN’T wasted your time with something you know you’re going to hate. More people need to NOT watch stuff in order to send the right message. People hate-watching stuff in droves? Pfft, who gives a shit? They’re still watching, they’re still giving you viewership. What do it matter if they’re calling this show the drizzling shits? I’ve seen worse show get extended for multiple years and when I sit down to watch some of these things, I often wonder why because this is just awful.

So while I’m neither thrilled nor saddened by Academy’s cancellation, there is a part of me that can’t help but feel a pan of disappointment whenever a Star Trek thing gets binned regardless of whether I like it or not. I’m also a bit concerned as to where this franchise is headed once all the remaining SNW and SFA episodes have aired – Strange New Worlds has one full ten-episode season as well as an abbreviated fifth season. There are different pitches that have been proposed; a Year One follow-up on Kirk and company, a sequel series to Enterprise (which would actually kinda, sorta intrigue me), and of course, an adaptation of the hit Xbox 360 game, Star Trek Legacy… oh wait.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it if Star Trek went on hibernation for a few years while the people in charge figure out where they want to go with it. Something about absence making the heart grow fonder or some sentimental crap like that. Truth be told, there’s a lot of legacy franchises that could be best served going into extended hibernation for the foreseeable future. Maybe fill the void with something else, some original IP that did what came before, but with a new spin that makes it unique.

We talk about these things taking big swings and yet none is able to take the biggest swing of all; creating something truly new and unique that speaks to the current generation and not just feeding off the rotting corpses of what came before. That’s the only real “big swing” I want to see Hollywood take. Otherwise, you may as well just give up and let AI do the scriptwriting for you. Considering the output that I’ve seen as of late, it might actually be a step up.

In any event, that’s the state of Star Trek as it is now. They’ve got stuff to put on the air, which fans should be grateful that they are when they could easily can everything and take a tax writeoff; similar to that Batgirl movie that was made and promptly shitcanned. Where it goes from here… who knows? I guess we’ll have to see what’s out there. Engage… or something.

Lap.

THE BITE COMMENTARIES #15 – Star Trek Through Apathy

Star Trek is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. The original series first aired in 1966 and has been on a roller coaster ride of sorts since that time, having seen multiple motion pictures, feature films, and animated projects under its belt. It has ridden the wave of fan support that produced a multitude of side material such as novels, comic books, interactive games, action figures, starship models, and other things. And it currently has a hit show on the Paramount+ streaming service. It should be a great time for Star Trek.

“Oh, but here comes crusty old Dave to rant and rave about how the current product sucks and how he misses the old days.”

Well, you’re half right. I do miss the old days when I actually looked forward to new Star Trek shows and movies. You’re kinda wrong about the show sucking, though. I’ve yet to see Starfleet Academy – never been big on young adult fare and me being a not-young adult anymore doesn’t help matters either – but I’ve heard generally favorable things from those who have. It’s hard to be invested in a franchise whose future seems to be in a state of flux, what with all the rumors surrounding ownerships and mergers. Will there even be new Star Trek after this current crop ends? Should there even be new Star Trek at this point?

Continue reading “THE BITE COMMENTARIES #15 – Star Trek Through Apathy”

New/Old MMPR… Eh…

Source: https://comicbook.com/comics/news/new-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-series-confirms-major-time-jump-and-a-returning-villain/

So your new MMPR comic thing is going to be a time jump thing where the Rangers are older, doing their own thing, but have to get back together to fight off against another Rita Repulsa type thing who isn’t actually Rita Repulsa, but a knock-off Rita because… fuck.

You know, I’ve soured on the Boom stuff after the whole Shattered Grid thing. It felt like reading someone’s shitty fanfiction, except you actually had to pay money for it. And I’ve read a lot of shitty fanfiction; I’ve written a bunch of shitty fanfiction. And you know what? I actually didn’t mind that Prime series because, hey, it’s trying something different and that’s what they needed was a new take on familiar material since that’s all they really want to do is take the toybox, shuffle these things up, and mash them up in a new narrative that isn’t bound by what came before. I was fine with that. Hell, just the fact that they dragged the VR Troopers out of mothballs and actually made a compelling series out of them gave me just a little bit of hope that maybe – just maybe – Boom was going to deliver a genuine quality Power Rangers series.

And then that gets shitcanned in favor of this pseudo-future thing where they redesigned the costumes to look like shitty dollar store knock-off toys. They produce a preview for a story that doesn’t inspire much hope it’s going to be offer anything new to the table. It feels like rehash and change for the sake of it rather than… why am I even bothering?

The really sad thing is that Boom already had a viable MMPR product that could be expanded upon. It’s called The Return. There’s no reason why you couldn’t cook up a deal to have OG Pinky Amy Jo Johnson, Matt Hotson, and others get together and whip up a follow-up to that series, especially since that last issue left the door open for further adventures. And look, I’ll be frank; The Return is the best thing to come out of Boom’s Power Rangers comic output in years. It was a good, solid reunion story, the art was fantastic, the characters were fleshed out, and it felt like a fresh take that was both familiar and new. If you had decided to make a new series that continued where The Return left off, hell yeah, I’d be on board with this.

This thing, on the other hand? I’m not exactly sold on it. It feels like a rehash with liberal needless changes made for the sake of changes. Not to mention, aren’t people sick and tired of more MMPR rehashes? Granted, it’s the one with the most mainstream recognition. It’s usually the first thing anyone thinks of when the words “Power Rangers” come up, but I also hear talk about how they need to move on from this or that or whatever the case may be.

Yeah, anyone remember Samurai? Anyone remember Megafarce? Rehashes of Mighty Morphin in all but name and even the ones after that basically reuse elements of MMPR (no more unique morphing calls, some variation of Go Go Power Rangers in the theme song, etc.). Even when they’re not doing MMPR, they’re still doing MMPR. You simply cannot get away from it.

Personally, I don’t care. If they want to do MOAR MMPR, then have at it. Would be nice if they tried something else… in fact, they did try something else and it was good, but now it’s ending because… fuck knows.

Eh… whatever. Doesn’t matter. Going to bed. Bye.

Whom You Hate And Refuse To Support… Or Something

Source: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/03/saudi-investment-firm-acquires-a-significant-number-of-capcom-shares

So the Saudis now own a bit of Capcom… or rather their Public Investment Fund owns a bit of Capcom, which adds to their list of video game stakes including EA, Nintendo, Activision/Blizzard, Take-Two, and others… and also they own SNK wholesale. That’s the controversial one because that apparently means Fatal Fury gets real-life soccer players and anus-relaxing DJs with funny accents as “guest” fighters. So does that mean we can’t enjoy Capcom games anymore because they’re partly owned by folks from a country who has a spotty history with human decency? Do we boycott them the same way we boycott SNK… or is it just business as usual?

My answer is… meh.

Continue reading “Whom You Hate And Refuse To Support… Or Something”

COMIC REVIEW – MMPR: Zord Quest #1

Zord Quest is a story that treads on fairly familiar territory; after an incident separates the Rangers, each one goes through their own personal trial to prove their worth as heroes in order to overcome the latest monster of the day from Lord Zedd. Chances are you’ve seen some variation of this story when it was called Alien Rangers and the little kid Rangers each went on their own personal journey to recover a piece of Zeo Crystal that would set up the next incarnation of Power Rangers.

Zord Quest almost follows that same template, but doesn’t quite hit the mark. It’s a one-shot story that gets resolved quickly. The trials that the individual Rangers go through serve only to reinforce their teamwork and apply their newly learned lessons to use in order to defeat the latest monster of the week. The trials themselves are resolved fairly quickly with no real substance behind it. There’s a sense that Zord Quest wants to say something, but fails to actually say anything.

On top of that, the continuity snafus are hard to ignore. The story supposedly takes place during the second season (or Year Two, as the book calls it), but they’re still using the Dinozords, which were mostly inactive and replaced with the Thunderzords. (Funny how all these MMPR Boom comics that wasn’t their main series always default to using the old Megazords and not the later ones despite timeline placement.) Lord Zedd is at least the main baddy. but his characterization is inconsistent with what was established during that time. It’s a story that neither fits with TV or comic continuity and as someone who followed this franchise since the very beginning, things like this do grate a bit.

Still, I’d be hard-pressed to call this bad. At worst, it’s a fairly ho-hum story with some questionable continuity snafus that almost harken back to the Hamilton Comics days, but on the other hand, it’s also straightforward in its storytelling that leads to the very obvious resolution and on that count alone, it’s more than fine. I do appreciate the much grittier artwork that’s at least a fair departure from the usual bland artwork that I’ve seen in some of these Mighty Morphin comics during that series run. It’s not quite perfect.

Zord Quest doesn’t offer much in terms of substance or anything that hasn’t been done before, but it makes for a quick read if you’ve got nothing better to do and can forgive the continuity gaffes. I’d call this “merely okay” and move right along.

Bleeding Cool Should Stop Using That Paul McGann Clip

Why is it that every time Bleeding Cool does an article (or clickbait, whichever you prefer) on Doctor Who, they make a point to include a clip of former Doctor person Paul McGann on a podcast confirming that a series of AI-doctored (no pun intended) pictures featuring him in costume were not real? I get that you want people to know that there are fake photos floating around that aren’t real, but if someone has never seen these fake photos – such as yours truly – this comes across as “We’ve got nothing else to post to make this article look like anything of substance, so we’re just going to repost the same Paul McGann clip that we’ve posted several times over the PAST MONTH ALONE!

Seriously, folks. Stop using that clip every time you talk about Doctor Who. If your regular readership saw it once, they’ve seen it a thousand times. And while I’m not a regular reader, I have seen enough Doctor Who posts on this site that I can safely say that clip is on EVERY DOCTOR WHO POST ON THEIR GODDAMNED SITE THAT I’VE READ.

Enough. Find something else to fill the void. Promote the next Big Finish audio or upcoming comic. Just about anything that Doctor Who isn’t a complete and utter Doctor Boo in at the moment. That’d be nice.

Here. I’ll give you an example.

Doctor Who’s one TV Movie starring Sylvester McCoy and a couple others is being redone in 4K, so it won’t look or sound like shit anymore. How cool is that?

Inside The Ropes Can Kiss My Clickbait

Earlier today, I came across this headline on the Inside The Ropes website, which you can check out here:

So you’re reading that headline and you figure, “Oh man. Heartbreaking end of an era? What could that possibly be? No more Hall Of Fame? No more commercials. Going back to smaller arenas? Cutting back on pyro? No chance in hell they’re bringing back the ring carts?” Clearly something terrible must have happened if we’re going to label this as “heartbreaking.” The kind of buzz word that baits people into clicking your articles.

Inside The Rope has a tendency to do this quite a bit, using very vague terms to avoid telling you what the article is all about. “42-Year-Old WWE Star Pooped Their Pants. Blames Tony Khan” or “Former WWE Champion Pissed On Wrong Side Of River” or “38-Year-Old AEW Veteran Gives Dave Meltzer A REDACTED” and so on and so forth. I mean, it’s incredible the lengths these people will go to avoid telling you what the article is about in their headlie.

And so what was this heartbreaking update on a Wrestlemania tradition that spurned curiosity?

Continue reading “Inside The Ropes Can Kiss My Clickbait”